


VALAR MORGHULIS▹L.LAUFEYSON [2]

by EdxnWood



Series: Dragon Mother [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Dragons, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-23 09:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15603609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdxnWood/pseuds/EdxnWood
Summary: [BOOK TWO]"My home is across the sea, where my people are waiting for me."***They rode by night, and by day took refuge from the sun beneath their tents. Soonenough Dany learned the truth of Doreah's words. This was no kindly country. They left atrail of dead and dying horses behind them as they went, for Pono, Jhaqo, and the others hadseized the best of Drogo's herds, leaving to Dany the old and the scrawny, the sickly and thelame, the broken animals and the ill-tempered. It was the same with the people. "They are notstrong," she told herself, "so I must be their strength. I must show no fear, no weakness, nodoubt. However frightened my heart, when they look upon my face they must see only Loki'squeen." She felt older than her fourteen years. If ever she had truly been a girl, that time wasdone.





	1. BOOK TWO

❝  _My home is across the sea, where my people are waiting for me_ _._ ❞

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**COPYRIGHT © ANCIENTSOULS 2018**

_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, OR TRANSMITTED BY ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, REWRITING, HE OR OTHER ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL METHODS, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER, EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF BRIEF QUOTATIONS EMBODIED IN CRITICAL REVIEWS AND CERTAIN OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL USES PERMITTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW. I DO NOT OWN DAENERYS, THE GAME OF THRONES PLOT, BESIDES THE PLOTS THAT I MAKE UP ALONG THE WAY, AND I DO NOT OWN LOKI AND THE THOR MOVIES._

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**WARNING: THIS BOOK MIGHT FEATURE STRONG CONTENT MEANT FOR MATURE AUDIENCES.**

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**_BOOK TWO OF THE DRAGON MOTHER SERIES._ **

**_FEATURES:_ **

_GAME OF THRONES SEASON 2 + THOR (2011)_

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They rode by night, and by day took refuge from the sun beneath their tents. Soon enough Dany learned the truth of Doreah's words. This was no kindly country. They left a trail of dead and dying horses behind them as they went, for Pono, Jhaqo, and the others had seized the best of Drogo's herds, leaving to Dany the old and the scrawny, the sickly and the lame, the broken animals and the ill-tempered. It was the same with the people.  _They are not strong,_  she told herself,  _so I must be their strength. I must show no fear, no weakness, no doubt. However frightened my heart, when they look upon my face they must see only Loki's queen._ She felt older than her fourteen years. If ever she had truly been a girl, that time was done.


	2. CAST & PLAYLIST

**STARRING**

**EMILIA CLARKE**  
 _as_   **DAENERYS TARGARYEN**

**DRAGON MOTHER**

**TOM HIDDLESTON**   
_as_ **LOKI LAUFEYSON**

**TRICKSTER GOD**

**AND**

**GAME OF THRONES CAST**  
 _as_   **THEMSELVES**

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**I.**  MOTHER OF DRAGONS  
 _by_ RAMIN DJAWADI

**II.** HOUSE OF THE UNDYING  
 _by_  RAMIN DJAWADI

**III.** LOVE IN THE EYES  
 _by_  RAMIN DJAWADI

**IV.** PYAT PREE  
 _by_ RAMIN DJAWADI

**V**. SCOTLAND  
 _by_  THE LUMINEERS

**VI**. QARTH  
 _by_  RAMIN DJAWADI

▆▆▆▆    ▆▆▆▆

**DAENERYS TARGARYEN**

❝  _Mother of Dragons_  ❞


	3. EPIGRAPH

  ❝  _I have become the most splendid beggar in the world, but a beggar all the same. She hated it, as her brother must have. All those years of running from city to city one step ahead of the Usurper's knives, pleading for help from archons and princes and magisters, buying our food with flattery. He must have known how they mocked him. Small wonder he turned so angry and bitter. In the end it had driven him mad. It will do the same to me if I let it. Part of her would have liked nothing more than to lead her people back to Vaes Tolorro, and make the dead city bloom. No, that is defeat. I have something Viserys never had. I have the dragons. The dragons are all the difference._ ❞

**━ DAENERYS, A CLASH OF KINGS.**


	4. PROLOGUE

**A PIG ROASTS OVER A FIRE IN THE CENTER OF THE TEMPLE OF THE DOSH KHALEEN,**  women dancing around, men playing music and Viserys stumbles in, drunk out of his mind. "Daenerys!" He yells, looking around. "Where's my sister?" Dany and Jorah look up, seeing her brother on the other side of the hut, Loki seeing him as well. Jorah stands up and walks towards the man, Dany speaking up, "Stop him."

"Where is she?" Viserys asks around. "I'm here for the feast. The whore's feast." Loki didn't like that his spouse was called a whore, but he keeps quiet, wanting his presence to be more of a surprise, not a common sight. "Come," Jorah says, grabbing him to lead him to a seat, but the man struggles against him. "Get your hands off me!" He yells. "No one touches the dragon." A man sitting next to Loki whispers something to him, making his Khal laugh with soft peals of chuckles. Viserys hears him and turns around, "Khal Loki! I'm here for the feast." 

_"Nevakhi vekha ha maan,"_  Loki nods down at a sitting-spot he had just for him at the other side of the hut, Jorah translating it for the Targaryen. "Khal Loki says there is a place for you," he points to the chair. "Back there." Jorah knew that the chair was meant for cripples and beggars, understanding that it was Loki's subtle way of saying that Viserys was the Beggar King, wanting things yet not doing anything about it; if he wanted his throne back, he should take lands by himself. It's what every Khal and his khalasar did, so why couldn't he do the same? "That is no place for a king," Viserys notes, shaking his head.

"You are no king," Loki replies in a soft voice, a voice that sounded as if he spoke the Common Tongue for a long time ― long before he met Daenerys ― and it was much like Dany's; soft, malleable, and quiet. Viserys draws his sword, Jorah going up to stop him from harming anyone, yet the tip of it was pointed at his face, "Keep away from me!" The drums have stopped and everyone was now paying attention to the ruckus. "Viserys," Dany speaks up, "please."

"There she is!" Viserys was still pointing his sword at Jorah, giving his little sister a mad look, making her cower a bit, but not enough to where he can see. He points the sword at her, walking towards her as Jorah says, "Put the sword down. They'll kill us all."

"They can't kill us. They can't shed blood in their sacred city," Viserys steers the sword at everyone in the room, hoping they could understand him, then aims it at the pregnant stomach of his relative. "But I can. I want what I came for. I want the crown he promised me. He bought you. But he never paid for you." The Khal is fiercely looking at the commotion, a translator translating everything for him. "Tell him I want what was bargained for or I'm taking you back. He can keep the baby. I'll cut it out and leave it for him." After the translator is finished, Loki replies in Dothraki, nodding up at him. "What's he saying?"

"He says yes," Dany answers for him, Viserys giving her an incredulous look. "You shall have a golden crown, that men shall tremble to behold." Viserys smiles down at her, and it was that smile that will break Daenerys over and over for the next few years in her sleep, knowing that her brother only wanted his crown, and he was going to get killed without knowing it. She understood that he was becoming demented, that he is going to turn out like their father, but he was her brother still, and she loved him like one. He steps away, dropping his sword, "That's all I ever wanted. What was promised." Loki stands up and walks over to his wife, placing a hand on her stomach to make sure she was alright, both exchanging looks, Dany giving him permission with the look in her eyes. He says something in Dothraki, two men coming up to Viserys and grabbing his arms, pinning them under their much stronger ones, the beggar king struggling against their hold.

His right arm is broken and he begins screaming at the top of his lungs, "No! You cannot touch me! I am the dragon! I am the dragon!" The men force him to his knees, Loki muttering something to the women by the fire, causing them to pour over the contents of the kettle, their Khal placing a golden piece of Dothraki jewelry into the pot. "Look away, Khaleesi," Jorah steps up to the Targaryen queen, but she just shakes her head. "No," she mutters to him, proceeding to watch her brother. "No. Dany! Dany, tell them, make them! You can't!" Viserys yells to her, begging her to stop them, but Dany makes no move towards him. It was something he deserved. The gold jewelry was now melted, Loki picking it up with pieces of cloth to prevent his hands from burning, and walks over to the screaming fool. "Dany please!"

"A crown for a king," Loki pours the metal over Viserys' head, hearing him gargle and scream, the gold solidifying on his skull, the men dropping him with a dull thud. He is instantly dead. "Khaleesi. . ."

_"He was no dragon,"_ Dany speaks up, causing everyone's heads to turn to her, Loki smiling down at her with pride.  _"Fire cannot kill a dragon."_


	5. 1. BLOOD OF MY BLOOD

**(** _the red waste, essos._ **)**

**IT WAS DANY'S FOURTEENTH BIRTHDAY,**  but she didn't exactly feel it, she felt much older than that, the year of being married, then pregnant, then her brother getting murdered, her husband dying, and her son coming out a foul creature did take a lot from her, the gods were unforgiving and relentless on the small girl. She and her khalasar were walking through the Red Waste, and it had lived up to its name; they had left many dead horses in the areas they went through, a different khalasar raiding their camp and taking their great horses, but they never took away the women, men, or Dany's dragons, also leaving her beloved horse with them. Dany wore a traditional Dothraki shoulder plate on her left arm, the black and red dragon standing atop it, the Khaleesi's body adorned with the itchy clothes the Dothraki wore. The dragon was letting out different screeches, waving its small wings and clicking its teeth together, Daenerys raising a small cube of meat to his mouth, but he refuses it. "What did your brother say about them, Khaleesi?" Doreah questions, picking at her fingernails.

"He said they eat meat," Dany responds, dropping her hand in defeat as she looked into the dragon's fiery red eyes, hints of orange in the middle, near the black slits for pupils. "He didn't tell you what kind of meat?" The Khaleesi shakes her head, "My brother didn't know anything about dragons. He didn't know anything about anything." She looks down dejectedly, taking the dragon off her shoulder and setting him in the small cage, a horse collapsing in the front of the group. Jorah jogs up to investigate, any slowing her mannerisms as she watches on, realizing that it was her horse that had fallen, letting go of the little door and hurrying towards the mare. Doreah takes her position, closing the door, Dany kneeling down before the horse, looking up at her advisor, seeing him shake his head. She looks down sadly. "She was Loki's first gift to me," she recalls, remembering the way she was petrified of him, but he had turned out to be an amazing husband. "I remember," Jorah nods his head. "I promised to protect them," Dany tells him, placing her hand on the mare's neck. "Promised them their enemies would die screaming. How do I make starvation scream?"

"A trick I never learned, I'm afraid."

"Does it ever end?"

"This is further east than we've ever been," Jorah replies. "But, yes, Khaleesi, everything ends, even in the Red Waste."

"And you're sure there's no other way?"

"If we go south to the land of the Lazarheen," Jorah states, "the Lamb Men will kill us and take your dragons. If we go west to the Dothraki Sea, the first khalasar we meet will kill us and take your dragons." Dany shakes her head at him, gulping loudly, "No one will take my dragons." 

Jorah replies quickly, "They are too weak to fight, as are your people. You must be their strength." Daenerys takes one look at him, "As you are mine.  _Zhey qoy qoyi!"_  She stands up, seeing three Dothraki men walk up to her, along with Doreah, "Zhey Rakharo, zhey Aggo, zhey Kovarro," she addresses them.  _"Fichi hrazef zinayi kishi. Ma yer adothrae tith; ma yer heshtith; ma yer valshtith."_   **(Blood of my blood! Rakharo, Aggo, Kovarro. Take our remaining horses. You ride east; you southeast; and you northeast.)**

Rakharo is the first to respond,  _"Fin kisha fonoki, zhey Khaleesi?"_ **(What do we seek, Khaleesi?)**

_"Vaes, che thiri che drivi. Ma verakasaris ma voji. Che ashefaes che tozaraes che Havazzhife Zhokwa. Ezo athchilar Athasaroon Virzetha hatif kishi, ma reki vekha yomme moon."_ **(Cities, living or dead. Caravans and people. Rivers or lakes or the great salt sea. Find how far the Red Waste extends before us, and what lies on the other side.)**  Rakharo nods, walking away to where the mares stood, "Varanno, gwe."  **(Right away, let's go.)**  Dany takes one look at Jorah, seeing him bow his head, and she calls out to Rakharo, _"Rakharo. Yer athzalar nakhoki anni, zhey qoy qoyi."_ **(Rakharo. You are my last hope, blood of my blood.)**

_"Anha vos oziyenek shafkea, zhey qoy qoyi."_   **(I will not fail you, blood of my blood.)**

**(** _odin's palace_ **)**

"Once," Odin says to his children, both of them young and lively, "mankind accepted a simple truth; that they were not alone in this universe. Some worlds man believed to be home to their gods. Others, they knew to fear. From a realm of cold and darkness, came the Frost Giants. Threatened to plunge the mortal world into a new ice age. But humanity would not face this threat alone. Our armies drove the Frost Giants back into the heart of their own world. The cost was great. In the end, their king fell, and the source of their power was taken from them. When the last Great War ended, we withdrew from the other worlds, and returned home to the realm eternal, Asgard."

A prospering city, one made of gold, and both ancient and futuristic technologies was all around them, peaceful and serene. Odin's palace was the tallest building in the world, "Here we remain as a beacon of hope. Shining out across the stars. And though we have fallen into man's myths and legends, it was Asgard, its warriors, that brought peace to the universe."


	6. 2. FROST GIANTS

**(** _red waste, essos_ **)**

**DANY AND HER KHALASAR WERE MILLING AROUND,** hunger looming over them in an unsatable cloud, their stomachs waiting for food and water, their ears and minds waiting for any word from the three that had been sent off. It had been a day, a day without supplies, and Dany was close to dropping down and never getting back up, wanting nothing but the feel of a steak bite passing through her cracked lips. Jorah sat close to her, taking a sip of his water, the last bit of it, and sighs. A horse was approaching them, they could hear the hooves before they could even look at it. When Jorah glances up to it, nobody is on its back. "Khaleesi," Jorah says, making Dany look up, Jorah standing up. 

The mare looked to be covered in red paint, a soaking wet sack attached to its side. Jorah walks up to him, seeing hair poking out from the top, flies buzzing wildly around it. He reaches in and feels the locks, Dany getting up from her spot to approach the horse. Her advisor pulls out a human head and puts it back inside. He didn't want his queen to see something like that, she's already been through enough. He picks up the ponytail, "You don't need to see this." 

"He is blood of my blood." She looks into the sack, then deters her eyes somewhere else. She couldn't bear to see death any longer. "Who did this?"

"Khal Pono perhaps," Jorah shrugs. "Khal Jhaqo. They don't like the idea of a woman leading a Khalasar."

"They will like it far less when I'm done with them."

Irri walks over and sees the head, falls to her knees and begins crying,  _"Mori atthasish oakah moon!"_   **(They killed his soul!)** Dany kneels next to her, trying to help the grieving woman. _"Affa, affa. Mori laz vos atthi oakah vosecchi."_ **(They cannot kill his soul.)**

_"Jin tish mori! Mori ogish ven mae ven rho. Mori avvirsosh khadoes moon. Me laz odothrae kimi mae she Rhaeshi Ajjalani avvos."_ **(They did! They butchered him like an animal. They did not burn his body. He can never join his ancestors in the Night Lands.)**

_"Affa. Kisha amariki vorsqoy ha maan. Majin anha astak yeraan asqoy, me-Rakharo adothrae kimi mae ajjalan."_   **(We will build him a funeral pyre. And I promise you, Rakharo will ride with his ancestors tonight.)**  Irri wails loudly, Dany holding her close to a chest like a mother would to comfort her hurt child, Jorah watching over them.

**(**   _throne room_   **)**

Thor finishes rousing up the crowd, walking past the guards, kneeling down in front of his mother and father, the Warriors Three, Sif, and Loki standing off to the left. He sets Mjolnir and his helm on the gold floor. Frigga gives him an admonishing stare, Thor winking up at her, making her smile, Odin striking his staff on the ground, silencing the citizens of Asgard. He opens his mouth to speak, the words pouring out in a quiet, effortless authority, raising Gungnir. "Gungnir. Its aim is true, its power strong. With it," he tells them all, "I have defended Asgard and the lives of the innocent across the Nine Realms since the time of the Great Beginning. And though the day has come for a new King to wield his own weapon ― that duty remains the same. Thor Odinson, my heir, my first-born." 

Frigga looks down at her son, Loki looking at his brother in envy. "So long entrusted with this mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Forged in the heart of a dying star, from the sacred metal of Uru. Only one may lift it. Only one is worthy. Who wields this hammer commands the lightning and the storm. Its power has no equal ― as a weapon, to destroy, or as a tool, to build. It is a fit companion for a King." 

**(**   _odin's vault_ **)**

The bodies of the guards are flung against the doors, strewn with ice, the attackers not being seen clearly due to their speed, just glimpses of shadows along the walls. One of them lifts the Casket from its stand, red eyes looking down at it with pride. They've got their power back. He turns around to leave, but, as they do, the intricate latticework behind the Casket starts to separate and retract, revealing something standing in the shadows behind it. As the creatures walk away, a fiery glow rises behind them. They turn back around. Now it's their turn to scream.

**(** _throne room_ **)**

The ceremony continues, Odin continuing his speech, his citizens hanging on to every single word that poured out of his mouth. "Today I entrust you with the greatest honor in all the Nine Realms. The sacred throne of Asgard. I have sacrificed much to achieve peace. So, too, must a new generation sacrifice to maintain that peace. Responsibility, duty, honor. These are not mere virtues to which we must aspire. They are essential to every soldier and to every King." Everybody in the room begins to shiver, rubbing their limbs for warmth as Odin stands up, watching his son with pride. "Thor Odinson, do you swear to guard the Nine Realms?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to preserve the peace?"

"I swear."

"Do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition and pledge yourself only to the good of all the Realms?"

"I swear!" Thor raises his hammer high above his head, the AllFather nodding down at him. "Then on this day, I, Odin Allfather, proclaim you ―" Odin hesitates, noticing a strange sight before him, ice creeping across the surface of the large banners around the hall, making an eerie cracking sound. Thor, his comrades, and the crowd see it too. "Frost Giants," Odin realizes. 

The far-off sounds of battle bellow in the depths of the palace below, Sif and the Warriors Three grabbing their weapons, Thor racing from the hall.

**(**   _odin's vault_   **)**

Thor enters, then stares in shock at the sight before him. His comrades and brother all follow close behind, and stop short, shattered and melting ice is scattered throughout the floor, the Frost Giants twisted and smoldering on the ground. They've just a savage battle, horribly. Amidst them, shrouded in shadows, stands the black metal creature known as the Destroyer, an orange glow coming from within it. It holds the Casket in its hands. "I thought it was but a legend," Volstagg says, clearly in aw. Odin steps in behind the Asgardians as the Destroyer sets the Casket on the stand it was held in, then moves back to its post, the faint glow dying out.

Fandral looks around the Vault, ill at ease. "I've never been inside the Vault before. It's said the Tesseract was once held here."

"The Tesseract?" Volstagg exclaims. "I thought that was but a legend too!"

"Shush!" Sif quiets them, Odin surveying the destruction as Thor speaks up. "The Jotuns must pay for what they've done!"

"They have paid with their lives," Odin replies to his blonde child. "The Destroyer did its job, and the Casket is safe. All is well."

_"All is well?"_  Thor asks, raising his eyebrow, glaring at his father. "They broke into the Weapons Vault! If the FrostGiants had stolen even one of these relics―" Odin interrupts him. "But they didn't." 

"I want to know why they―"

"The Casket of Ancient Winter belonged to the Jotuns. They believe it's their birthright."

"And if you hadn't taken it from them they would have laid waste to all the Nine Realms!"

"I have a truce with Laufey, the Jotun king."


	7. . GARDEN OF BONES

**(**   _red waste, essos_ **)**

**DAENERYS HEARS A HORSE NEIGH,**  turning around to face a dark horse trotting up to them, a rider on its back, and she recognizes him as one of the three men she sent to find any source of food, water, or city. It was Kovarro, making his way back with a new, strong mare.  _"Jin vos sajo yeri,"_ Dany says to him, looking down at the black beauty.  **(This isn't your horse.)**  Kovarro jumps off, landing hard on his feet, walking next to the horse and grabbing onto its reins, smiling.  _"Me nem azh anhaan ki Senthisiri — jin Fozaki Qarthoon,"_  he beams happily that he was the one who found the city.  **(It was given to me by the Thirteen — the Elders of Qarth.)**

_"Zhey Qarth?"_  Dany raising her darkening eyebrows.

_"Sen asshekhi tithaan, qisi havazzhifi."_ **(Three days to the east, on the sea.)**

_"Hash mori vazhi kishaan emralat?"_ **(Will they let us in?)**

_"Mori astish memori nem achomoe hash mori viddee Mayes Zhavvorsi."_ **(They said they would be honored to receive the Mother of Dragons.)**

**(** _banquet hall,_ _odin's palace_ **)**

Thor stands in the empty hall, bearing the signs of the festivities canceled due to the events of the day, and, with anger and frustration rising within him, he upends one of the massive tables. From across the room, Loki watches him.

**(**   _red waste_   **)**

_"Mori astish memori nem achomoe hash mori viddee Mayes Zhavvorsi."_ **(They said they would be honored to receive the Mother of Dragons.)**  

Dany turns to face Jorah,  "What do you know of this place?" The older man rubs his fingers together, head bent, hand by his cheek as he answers. "Only that the desert around their walls is called the Garden of Bones." This gives Dany chills, the name frightening and she wondered if it truly lived up to its name. "Every time the Qartheen shut their gates on a traveler, the garden grows."

**(**   _odin's palace_ **)**

Thor, Sif, Loki, and the Warriors Three walk from the Palace, across the grounds, reaching a group of attendants who ready their battle gear for their journey, Loki slips away from the group, beginning to speak to a nearby guard. Hogun notices. "We must first find a way to get past Heimdall," Thor says to the group.

"That will be no easy task," Volstagg retorts, shaking his head. "It's said the Gatekeeper can see a single dewdrop fall from a blade of grass a thousand worlds away."

"And he can hear a cricket passing gas in Niffelheim."

"Jest not!" Volstagg says, smiling at his own little joke. "He heareth all!" 

"Please," Fandral replies. "Getting past him should be simple enough now since he seems to be letting Frost Giants sneak by under his nose." In fear, Volstagg looks up at the sky and begins to shout out, "Forgive him! He meaneth no offense!" Loki rejoins the group as Thor leads them onwards.

**(**   _gate of asgard_   **)**

Thor and his band of adventurers, on horseback, pass through the massive Gate, leaving Asgard behind. They ride along the most astounding path in this Realm or any other. . .

**(**   _garden of bones, qarth's gates_ **)**

Qartheen soldiers file out of the city's gates, wearing the traditional clothing of the port, holding golden spears and shields, Dany looking at them in confusion. Why were they sending soldiers out? "I thought we were welcome," she looks over at Jorah, seeing his watch the small infantry with careful eyes. He averts his eyes towards her, understanding the people's motives. "If you heard a Dothraki horde was approaching your city, you might do the same, Khaleesi."

"Horde?" She looks back at her meager amount of men and women, the complete opposite of a horde. It was more of a club. Thirteen men in the traditional garb walk behind the soldier, who were all standing still, the white of their clothing clashing against the tan colored sand while the other nude colors went along well with the dull sand. One of them, the leader perhaps, walks closer to the Khaleesi, his hands clasped in front of him. "My name is Daenerys," Dany begins to introduce herself, about to say her title, but the man already beat her to it. "Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen," he finishes it for her. 

"You know me, my lord?"

"Only by reputation, Khaleesi," he responds, moving his hands so they rested against either side of his stomach. "And I'm no lord, merely a humble servant. They call you the Mother of Dragons."

"And what should I call you?"

"Oh, my name is quite long and quite impossible for foreigners to pronounce. I am simply a trader of spices. But  _we_  are the Thirteen, charged with the governance and protection of Qarth, the greatest city that ever was or will be."

"The beauty of  _Quarth,"_ Dany begins, "is legendary." The trader raises a finger, correcting her already, " _Qarth."_

"Qarth."

"Might we see the dragons?" The Spice King places his hands on his protruding stomach, carrying his head in an almost mocking manner, his lips pursing together as he watched Dany turn her head towards one of the horses, the three cages on and around his back sticking out. She looks back at the man, "My friend, we have traveled very far. We have no food, no water. Once I see my people fed, I would be honored —"

"Forgive me, Mother of Dragons," the Spice King throws his hands up, "but no man alive has seen a living dragon. Some of my more skeptical friends —" he looks over his shoulder at a few men — "refuse to believe your children even exist. All we ask is the chance to see for ourselves." Dany sighs deeply, wanting nothing more than to be sitting in a chair somewhere inside Qarth, her people fed and well-slept, all of them ready for a new day. "I am not a liar," she responds, shaking her head. "Oh, I don't think you are," the older man remarks. "But as I've never met you before, my opinion on the matter is of limited value."

"Where I come from," Dany begins, already pissed off at the men in front of her, "guests are treated with respect, not insulted at the gates."

"Then perhaps you should return to where you come from. We wish you well," the Spice King turns to walk back into his city, Dany following him, angry at everyone. "What are you doing?' She snaps, Jorah placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to protect his Khaleesi at any given time. "You promised to receive me." The king turns around, "We  _have_  received you. Here we are, and here you are."

"If you do not let us in, all of us will die."

"Which we shall deeply regret. But Qarth did not become to the greatest city that ever was or ever will be by letting Dothraki savages through its gates." He gives Dany a little bow before walking off, his followers turning around as he walks past them, all ready to go back inside. "Khaleesi, please be careful," Jorah scolds her, Dany breathing in deeply as she walks forth, the Mormont bear close at her heels as the Qartheen soldiers lean their spears forward. "Thirteen!" Daenerys calls out to them, the men turning back to her. "When my dragons are grown, we will take back what was stolen from me and destroy those who have wronged me. We will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground. Turn us away and we will burn you first." The Spice King holds up a finger, smirking down at the petite woman, "Ah. You are a true Targaryen. Only, as you said a moment ago, if we don't let you into the city, you will all die. And so —"

"Retreating in fear from a little girl is unbecoming of the greatest city that ever was or will be," a tall dark man steps forth, the highest and greatest one in the group. He towered over the people, overlooking their heads. "The discussion is over, Xaro Xhoan Daxos," the king before him retorts. "The Thirteen have spoken."

"I am one of the Thirteen and I am still speaking," Xaro says, and Dany begins to like him; only three people in her life have stuck up for her — Ser Jorah Mormont of Bear Island, Khal Loki of Asgard, and now Xaro Xhaon Daxos of the Thirteen. "The girl threatens to burn our city to the ground and you would invite her in for a cup of wine?" the Spice King draws in his brows, the dark-skinned man in front of his nodding as he gestures over to Dany. Daenerys doesn't like being talked about as if she wasn't there, but she remembers that this man was fighting for her right to get into the city, so she kept her mouth shut. "She is the Mother of Dragons," Xaro raises his eyebrows in question. "Do you expect her to watch her people starve without breathing fire? I believe we can allow a few Dothraki through our gates without dooming the city. After all, here I am, a savage from the Summer Isles and Qarth still stands."

"Our decision is final," the king remarks.

"Very well," Xaro takes a few steps towards Dany, but still keeps a great distance away from her and her people, smiling at her warmly. "I invoke Soumai." He takes a long dagger from the sheath at his right side, "I will vouch for her, her people, and her dragons in accordance with the law." Dany looks back at Jorah, not believing what she was hearing. Xaro drags the blade across his hand, raising it to show the white man before him the crimson liquid that was hanging around the cut, then turns it towards the other Thirteen. "Be it on your head," the king retorts, angry at Xaro. He walks up to the others, "Welcome to Qarth, my lady." Xaro gestures to the large gates, the group of men diving in the middle as the doors begin to open, showing sand-colored building with gold accents, palm trees towering over some, a port right in the middle of their line of sight. Dany smiles as she begins to march forth, her people following close behind her, pleased that their Khaleesi was able to get them a temporary home.


	8. 4. PYAT PREE AND QUAITHE

**(** _qarth, dany's private chambers_ **)**

**_DANY DROPPED A CUBE OF RAW MEAT IN FRONT OF DROGON,_** both her and Doreah watching him with smiles, hearing him let out a small growl, one that sounded like he clicked his teeth together more than once. _"Dracarys,"_ Dany orders, Drogon moving a little to look down at the meat directly, smelling it, and before he does anything, he looks up at his mother, confused. The two girls smile again.  _"Dracarys,"_ he lets out two squeaks, the first one having a tiny puff of smoke come out while the second a small flame shot out of his mouth, cooking the red cube in front of him. 

Doreah claps while Dany chuckles, happy that her son was able to eat. "He'll be able to feed himself from now on," Drogon takes it into his small mouth, standing on his hind legs as his wings tuck into his side, letting out another squeal when he saw his mother step away to her bed. Her handmaiden gets an idea and reaches for the pork, but her Khaleesi's voice stops her, "Let him sleep, Doreah."

"Yes, Khaleesi," she responds, placing her hand down on the sill, palm facing the sky, Drogon climbing on, feeling his tiny claws grip onto the soft skin of her hand. "He loves you," Dany comments, Irri looking back with jealousy, her hands still working on the bottom of the Targaryen's dirtied boot. She wanted a close friendship with her Khaleesi as the former prostitute had, but she considered herself lucky to even  _know_  Daenerys, but she wanted more, but it wasn't a killing need, more of a want that ate away at her stomach, and she looked away, her enemy carrying Drogon back to one of the tables in his cage. Irri wanted to make Daenerys proud, so she told her about what she did, holding one of the cages up. The dragons were restless and ate away at their cages when they were bored, so Irri volunteered to weave stronger material along the top, where most of the biting ensued.  _"Anha soqe akka jin sacchey essheyi,"_  she showed her, then picked up the boot she had just finished.  _"Qisi tim, anha arrisse vemishikh jinoon akka."_ **(I rewove this part of the top. And I fixed the heel on this one.)**

"Thank you, my friend," hearing her Queen call her her friend was the best feeling ever, her shoulder burning up where Dany leaned against her softly, smiling at each other. Doreah walked back to the bed, picking up the soft blue dress as she began to speak, "Did you see the dress Xaro had made for you?" The beads tinkled against one another as they moved, Doreah moving across both arms. "They say he's the wealthiest man in Qarth."

Dany just gives her a look that said she didn't like rich men despite having married a prince of Asgard, but he didn't show her his money or give her jewels and gifts, he gave her something more powerful: he gave her her powerful voice. Besides, he had to be in his arly forties, an age too old for her, despite her late husband being five years her senior when she was the tender age of thirteen. "It is known," Irri agrees and the smile on the ex-prostitute's face falters, biting her lip as she glares at her from the curtain of the dress' skirt. And if Qarth is the wealthiest city in Essos —"

"The last time a rich man gave me a dress, he was selling me to Khal Loki," Dany interrupts, taking the silk in her hands, feeling the soft fabric with her fingers, noting how just like the color, resembled water. Irri bows her head in respect for her lost king. _"Me dothralates she Rhaeshi Ajjalani ayyeyaan."_   **(May he ride through the Night Land's forever.)**  Dany smiles down at her before averting her eyes to Doreah, "Xaro's our host, but we know nothing about him. Men like to talk about other men. . ." she releases the dress from her grasp, "when they're happy."

Irri scrubs the bottom of the shoe harder, but Dany took no notice of this, she only watched Doreah simper and place the shift back down on the cot, "You would look like a real princess in Xaro's —"

"She's not a princess, she's Khaleesi!" Irri snaps, stopping her actions, and Dany looked down at her, and her handmaiden feels her eyes on her, and once she looks up at the younger girl, she bows her head in shame. "You should wear it, Khaleesi. You're their guest. It would be rude not to." She walks off, opening the gold and marble door that held Daenerys' chambers from the others, and the young girl smiles down at her feet.

 

**(** _qarth, festival_   **)**

There was a festival in town,one that not even Jorah knew why they were celebrating, and the citizens of Qarth walked around, mingling among one another as they drank wine and ate fine foods, dressed in their best clothes. Irri was talking to another Dothraki, feeling out of place with the colorfully dressed men and women, keeping their backs to their Khaleesi, but they still were keeping an eye on her. Daenerys wore a beautifully crafted cerulean dress that split at her chest and extra silk cascaded down her back like a waterfall, gold embroidery stitched into the silk, a thick belt and shoulder pads retaining it all together, and two strings of beads fell from it. Her hair was brushed and let down, two small braids interlocking at the back of her head. She smiled politely at a woman who had told her a joke, hearing her crisp, clear laugh over the crowd. "And you  _must_  visit the Night Market," she told her, using her empty hand as she talked. "The Qartheen Night Market is like no Night Market you've ever seen."

"It sounds wonderful," Dany smiles at her, seeing the gold paint spread into the woman's dark roots gleam in the sunlight, despite being in the shade. "The Meereenis believe they have a Night Market, I'll take you there myself." Dany hears the unmistakable sounds of Dothraki being spoken, and this grabs her attention, notwithstanding all her efforts of being polite to the woman. She didn't even know her name. "Please excuse me for a moment," she apologizes before making her way to where Ser Jorah and two Dothraki men were, arguing about something that involved gold and jewels. "What are they doing?" She asks, one of the men tapping the side of the golden peacock with the blunt edge of his blade, hearing the dull thud of the two metals hitting against each other.

"Malakko says the statue is too heavy to carry," Jorah answers, gesturing to an older man, who nods at Jorah's words. "Kovarro says that Malakko is an idiot. They can pry out the gems, the rest is pure gold, very soft. He can chop off as much as we can carry." Daenerys looks between the three of them, her mouth slightly agape as she comprehends what is happening: they were planning to steal. If they stole, they would be kicked out and their journey would be back on square one, but if they took the gold and gems, they would have enough money for a boat or two, but the Dothraki would never get on something that would take them across a span of water their horses cannot drink, though they didn't have many horses.  _"Che ivvisaki mae. Disisse,"_  Kovarro adds, waving his dagger around as he spoke.  **(Or melt it. Very simple.)**

_"Kisha nevaki mae! Yer laz vos vefenari mae, vos tavi mae, vos ivvisi mae,"_  Daenerys declines, but Kovarro seems to have thought it through, but not enough steps have been made.  **(We are his guests! You can not pry it, nor chop it, nor melt it.)**

_"Vosecchi, zhey Khaleesi! Kisha vayoki athezaraan kishi."_ **(Of course not, Khaleesi! We will await our departure.)**

_"Kash athezar kishi vos akka,"_ Dany wanted it to be the last of their argument, but it seems that the Dothraki man wants to go on, opening his mouth to speak as a confused look crosses his face.  **(During our departure, not even.)** "Vos arrek? Kifindirgi?" (Not then? Why?)

_"Hash idrik kishi vijazero kisha Athasaroon Virzetha hash yer zali zifichelat moon? Anha acharak vos alikh."_   **(Our host saved us from the Red Waste and you want to steal from him? I will hear no more.)**  They bow their heads before walking away, Kovarro placing his knife back into its sheath, a man bending his knees softly as Kovarro takes one of the golden goblets from the platter he carried, staring at it with a blank expression before he dumps the liquid inside it and placing it inside a bag he carried. "My brother used to say to say the only thing the Dothraki knew how to do was steal things better men have built," Dany and Jorah stroll away from the peacock.

"It's not the only thing," they stop walking. "They're quite good at  _killing_  the better man." Dany takes it as a small insult to the way she ruled, but she kept her composure and replied softly. "That's not the kind of queen I'm going to be." A man calls out to her, "Mother of Dragons!" and she and Jorah turn around, facing a bald man with blue lips and sunken eyes, laugh lines around his mouth and a violet high-necked robe worn over a white tunic. He looked haunting to Dany. "On behalf of the warlocks of Qarth, I welcome you." He bows at the waist, Dany smiling at him softly and he sticks out his hand. Though Dany did not believe in magic or warlocks, she let him be.  "A demonstration?" She places her small hand in his larger one and he places a cold gemstone into her palm. "Take this gem. Look at it. . . into its depths." It was green, like Loki's eyes. "So many facets. Look closely enough and you can see yourself in them." A small flutter and a quick look over his shoulder, and he stood behind a peacock statue, but he was right in front of Dany as well. Two places in one. 

But. . .

_"Loki is known for his smart, cunning, mischievous ways,"_ her brother had whispered to her the day she met her husband. Later on, a few months into the marriage, Viserys kept whispering something to her about how Loki was the God of Mischief and how he was able to be in multiple places at once, being able to replicate himself with illusions, so could he have duplicated himself and gone back to his home world to finish some royal business? She shakes her head and watches the second man. "Often more than once. Should you grow tired of Xaro's baubles and trinkets, it would be an honor to host you at the House of the Undying. You are always welcome, Mother of Dragons." Two different wars fought inside her: truth and make-believe. She knew that her husband was dead, but it could all have been an illusion, a fake Loki. The warlock and his duplicate wander away, leaving clapping spectators and a bewildered Dany. 

"My apologies," Xaro makes a break in the crowd with his large stature, his hands up in the air in an apologetic gesture, making his way to his petite guest. "Pyat Pree is one of the Thirteen, it was customary of me to extend an invitation. Customs die slow deaths in Qarth."

"What is the House of the Undying?

"It is where the warlocks go to squint at dusty books and drink Shade of the Evening; it turns their lips blue and their minds soft. So soft, they actually believe their parlor tricks are magic," Dany laughs, letting Xaro take her away from the crowd, feeling his fingertips skim lightly against the small of her back. Jorah is left alone, his teeth gnawing against the skin of his fingertip, "You watch over her." A soft, alluring voice comes from behind him, and he turns around to see a woman wearing a mask covering her face, gold worked into the fabric, just like Daenerys' dress, but hers were much larger and more gold was used than the fabric.

"Do I know you?"

"I know you," she responds. "Jorah Mormont of Bear Island."

"Who are you?"

"I'm no one," she clasps her hands together and turns her gaze to Dany, who was listening to Xaro as he told a story, an older, white-haired man listening in as well. "But she is the Mother of Dragons. She needs true protectors, now more than ever. They shall come day and night to see the wonder born into the world again. And when they see, they shall lust. For dragons are fire-made flesh and fire is power." She leaves, asphalt crunching beneath her feet, Jorah turning his gaze back to where his Khaleesi was and sees that she was nowhere to be seen. 

**(**   _rainbow bridge_   **)**

Wide and flat, it runs straight out from Odin's palace to the mists and black void of space beyond. In the distance far ahead, the Bridge continues on until it reaches Heimdall's Observatory. 

**(**   _heimdall's observatory, outside_ **)**

The band draws near the Observatory, where Heimdall himself, Gatekeeper of Asgard, stands at his post on the Bridge before them, blocking their way, staring them down. There is something other-worldly about him, even for this Realm. He holds a massive sword in front of him, his stern, intimidating face virtually concealed by his iconic two-horned helmet, very much like Loki's, but Loki's horns were in front of him, bent back. Something glints beneath his visor, like twinkling stars. "Keep your weapons sheathed and your mouths closed. This is going to take subtlety and sincerity, not brute strength. Leave it to me," Loki dismounts and steps forward. "Good Heimdall —"

"You're not dressed warmly enough," he interrupts, making Thor, Loki and the others trade looks. Of course, Heimdall could hear them. "I'm sorry?" Loki tried to seem stupid and curious, but he knew that Heimdall knew Loki was the one who had his nose stuck in a book at all times, not Thor. "The freezing cold of Jotunheim. It will kill you all in time, even Thor," he continued. "You think you can deceive me? I, who watch all? I, who can sense the flapping of a butterfly's wings a thousand worlds away?" He fixes his eyes pointedly at Fandral. "Or can hear a cricket passing gas in Niffelheim?" Fandral is gob-smacked, "That was just a bit of a jest, really —"

"You must be mistaken, we're not —"

"Enough," Thor steps forward, all eyes falling on him. "Heimdall, may we pass?" Heimdall stares him down, making the god feel a little uncomfortable in his armor when the creepy gold eyes of Heimdall bear into him. "For ages have I guarded Asgard and kept it safe from those who would do it harm. In all that time, never has an enemy slipped by my watch — until this day. I wish to know how that happened.

"Then tell no one until we've returned." They walk past him, the Gatekeeper letting them pass, Loki frustrated that his words didn't work. As Volstagg jests, "What happened? Your silver tongue turn to lead?"

"Get me off this bridge before it cracks under your girth," Volstagg and Fandral share a laugh. 

**(** _inside, heimdall's observatory_   **)**

Thor and the others enter the Observatory, step onto a platform, while Heimdall climbs into the large control paraphernalia at the center of the room and readies the Observatory. "Be warned," Heimdall tells them. "I will honor my sworn oath to protect this Realm as its Gatekeeper. If your return threatens the safety of Asgard, Bifrost will remain closed to you. You'll be left to die in the cold wastes of Jotunheim."

"I have no plans to die today."

"None do," this sends a chill down all of their spines, but if one of them were afraid, they were doing a damn good job of hiding it, the Gatekeeper could give them that. He inserts his sword into the control panel, and the machinery of the Observatory starts up. Heimdall turns his sword in the control panel. The Observatory's giant turret swings around, aiming toward a section of space. As a final step, Heimdall plunges his sword deeper into the control panel, the great turret firing, the rainbow light of Bifrost energy blasts out of it. The Bifrost opens at the end of the platform upon which Thor and his five comrades stand. "All is ready, you may pass."

"Couldn't you just leave the bridge open for us?"

"To keep this bridge open would unleash the full power of the Bifrost and destroy Jotunheim with you upon it." This gives Loki an idea in which he would use later on, one that would destroy Jotunheim and make him the hero of Asgard, make his older brother to cast away of the family, not him. "Ah, nevermind then." Thor starts towards the BiFrost, turns back to his comrades and grins. "Come on, don't be bashful." The others join him at his side, then step towards the Bifrost. Their bodies stretch towards the maelstrom, changing shape as if every atom of their being is being elongated by the pull of it. In an instant, they're jerked off the platform and inside the vortex.


	9. 5. JOTUN

**(**   _jotunheim, bifrost landing site_   **)**

**A HOLE IN THE SKY RIPS OPEN,**  and the Bifrost comes shooting out of it, snow flurries up when the Bifrost hits, as Thor and his band touch down, runes from the Bifrost are imprinted on the ice around them. Volstagg loses his footing, falling backward. Thor quickly grabs him by the belt.  The warrior dangling precariously on the edge of a sheer cliff on the planet's inner ring, opening up to the black abyss of space beyond. " Come on, big fella. Up. . .!" With an effort, Thor pulls the burly warrior back onto the ice and, tremendously relieved, Volstagg proclaims: "This belt! This belt is now my lucky belt! I will never remove it! Even when bathing!"

"You bathe?" Fandral responds, Volstagg sending him a glare. Thor and the others turn and stare out in horror and wonder at the frozen alien wasteland before them. The whole planet is a massive flattened ring of jagged ice, slowly breaking apart. Huge chunks of ice calving away from its outer edges and float off into space. The planet's icy surface cracks and melts as far as the eye can see. The ruins of a Jotun city lies in the distance. "We shouldn't be here," Hogun says what Volstagg was thinking, but was too scared to say. "Too late now," Thor replies.

"Actually, it's not. We could turn right around, hop back to Asgard, share a mug by the fire. Could be nice."

Thor ignores him, marching off, while Loki looks around, anxious at something. "Perhaps we should wait." Thor turns back to his brother, "For what?" Thor wasn't thinking it out, Loki could tell, he was just running on rage and hatred to the Jotuns and he wanted them dead. That was Thor's fault when fighting: his anger. "To survey the enemy. To gauge their strengths and weaknesses from a distance."

"We know all we must. It's time to act." He walks off, and reluctantly, the others follow. Loki was trailing behind farther than the others, knowing that he had a wife and son to get back to. How did his son look like? Was he like his mother with her silver hair and violet eyes, or like him, with black hair and green eyes? Or was he like both of them? "He's just got to swing his hammer. . ." Lady Sif whispers.

**(** _qarth_ **)**

"So, tell me, how long has your manservant been in love with you?" Xaro asks the petite Khaleesi next to him, walking out in the cover of moonlight, candles being lit to give them more light, and Dany shakes her head at him. "He's not my manservant and he's not in love with me," a woman sees that Dany's soft legs can be seen through the fabric of her dress, shapely and perfect. "He's my advisor, my friend."

"Unlikely," he answers to her, looking up at the sky while Dany looked up at him. "I could almost always tell what a man wants."

"And what about what a woman wants?" Dany was curious, to say the least.

"Much more complicated," of course. Women were always complicated, from what she's heard from other men. Women want something one day and the next she doesn't want it anymore, already bored out of her mind with it; she hoped she wasn't like that. "You, for example, what do  _you_  want?" Daenerys already had an answer, "To cross the Narrow Sea and take back the Iron Throne."

"Why?"

_Why? Because it was her birthright, she promised her people that she'll get it back with them, for them, and she was going to avenge her family's death._  But what if she was the cause of death for her mother? What would she avenge then? "Because I promised my khalasar I'd protect them and find them a safe home." Xaro lets out a rich chuckle, almost like rich the rich dark chocolate she had one time back in Braavos, and the man says, "You want to conquer the Seven Kingdoms for the Dothraki?" He turns around to face her, seeing her black khol-lined eyes stare up at him with a mixture of determination and anger. 

"I won them because they are mine by right," she retorts, seeing him falter a bit but regained his composure, a weary look coming over his face as he watched her. "The Iron Throne is mine and I will take it." This makes Xaro hum low, nodding to himself, "A conqueror." 

"And how did you get all this?" She asks, gesturing with her head to the beautiful things around them. "Did someone give it to you?"

"No. I come from nothing. I hit the docks like a piece of cargo, except someone normally cares what happens to cargo." This adds more to Dany's argument, wanting to use it to fuel it, but she knew that Xaro would have something else to say; he always did. "So you wanted more than you had and you took it," she says, adding a bit more to the end. "You're a conqueror, too, you're just. . ." she sighs, "less ambitious." This makes him laugh, Dany smiling up at him as a parrot squawked nearby, then her smile faded as a question popped into her mind. "What do you want, Xaro Xhoan Daxos? At the gates of the city, you bled for me. Why?"

"I will show you why," he holds up his hand, palm facing the sky, and Dany takes his fingers in hers softly, his thumb coming down to press against hers, leading her away from the plaza. While they walked, he spoke, a small strike of metal coming from Xaro striking it with what seemed to be a thin dagger. "The door and the vault is made from Valyrian stone. The hardest steel does not make a mark. I offered the greatest locksmiths in Qarth their weight in gold if they could break into it," Dany comes closer to the door leading into the vault. "I made the same offer to the greatest thieves. They all went home empty-handed. The only thing that could open this door," he holds the pendant of his necklace up, "is this key." It looked like it was made of gold and emeralds, Dany taking a liking to the look of it. 

"And behind the door?" Xaro chuckles, Daenerys facing the vault again, cocking her head to the left as she spoke. "And it could all be mine?"

"All?" He asks her. "Let us say half." A greedy man, she notices, knowing that he could have more somewhere else, somewhere far away, but will only give her enough to get home. "More than enough to buy horses, ships, armies," he explains. "Enough to go home." She knew there was going to be a contingency to it, "All I have to do?"

"Is marry me," he says without hesitation, making Daenerys snicker up at him, shaking her head. "That was a romantic proposal," she teases, while the dark-skinned man does not smile or laugh, just looks down at her as he replies seriously. "I've already married once for love, but the gods stole her from me. I come from nothing," he walks around her. "My mother and father never owned a pair of shoes. But marry me, and I will give you the Seven Kingdoms, and our children will be princes and princesses." Dany thinks of Loki, wondering what he would think about the marriage proposal, but realizes that he wouldn't like it, and she erases him from her mind; he was dead and will stay dead. "See? I have more ambition than you thought. The time is right, Daenerys Targaryen, First of Your Name. Robert Baratheon is dead." Rhaegar's spirit has come revenge, it seems.

**(**   _jotunheim, central plaza_ **)**

The party reaches the plaza, sensing the Frost Giants in the shadows and crevices, surrounding them now on all sides. 31. The Asgardians reach for the hilts of their weapons. A jotun sentry calls to him. "What is your business here, Asgardian?" HIs voice itself sounds like cracking ice. "I speak only to your King," Thor replied. "Not to his foot soldiers."

"Then speak," a different voice said. Thor turns towards the source in a balcony of the temple, where Laufey sits, veiled in shadow, behind a cascading waterfall. The Jotun King is ancient, noble, powerful ― too proud to reveal even a hint of the years of suffering he and his people have endured. "I am Laufey, King of this realm," he says, and Thor begins to state his name and titles. "And I am ―"

"We know who you are, Odinson. Why have you brought the stench of your blood into my world?" He demands, cocking his head to the right, but not that any of the Asgardians can see. He senses something else from Loki, something much different from the others, a mix of two races, and the one that stands out the most was the Jotun half. But how could a Jotun turn out to be so small and normal looking? "I demand answers!" Laufey stands, sizing Thor up, trying to piece everything together. "You  _demand_?" He simply asks.

"How did your people get into Asgard?"

"The House of Odin is full of traitors," his red eyes land on Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three exchanging a puzzled look at the Jotun King's choice of words. "Do not dishonor my father's name with your lies!" Thor fires back, but Laufey already has a remark to make. "Your father is a murderer and a thief," he states, growing angrier by the second. "He stole what was ours, and left our world in ruins. We have the right to reclaim the Casket." 

"Not when you'd use it to make war against other Realms," Laufey laughs cold, mockingly at him. "And why have you come here? To make peace? You  _long_ for battle. You  _crave_ it. I see you for what you are, Thor Odinson. Nothing but a boy, trying to prove himself a man."

"This boy has grown tired of your mockery." Thor takes a step towards Laufey, the other Jotuns step in front of Thor, blocking his path. They finally see the Frost Giants now ― terrifying, blue-skinned, standing eight feet tall, and Loki moves next to his brother and quietly implores him. "Thor, stop and think. Look around you. We are outnumbered."

"Know your place, brother. . ." Right, the words Loki so hatefully dreaded.  _Know your place._ It made him remember that he was still in Thor's shadow, that he was in a lower state than him. Yes, he might have Frigga's love, but Thor did too, as well as Odin's love and pride, but Loki never had that; Odin always seemed to overlook him, and the only times he never did were when he got into trouble. "You should listen to his counsel. You know not what your actions would unleash," Laufey stepped out of the shadows. "But I do. Go now, while I still allow it." Thor simmers and Loki speaks up. "We will accept your most gracious offer." The others look to Thor imploringly, Thor staring Laufey down a beat ― then relents. He turns to leave. His comrades breathe a sigh of relief and follow when a Frost Giant nearby mutters under his breath, "Run back home, little princess." 

Thor stops in his tracks, Loki going white as a ghost, already knowing what was to come. "Damn," he mutters low. In one quick move, Thor pulls Mjolnir, swings it, and knocks the Jotun clear across the plaza. The Asgardians reluctantly draw their weapons, gathering into a circle around Thor, and Volstagg looks around at the angry Jotuns approaching them. "Silly hammer!" He yells. "Has a mind of its own!" 

 Ice forms on the Jotuns' bodies, creating a frozen armor around them, extending off the ends of their arms like swords. One Giant does so directly in front of Fandral. "I'm hoping that's just decorative," Thor leaves the circle of Asgardians, swinging at another Frost Giant while his comrades form another circle around him, separating him from the Jotuns, as he whirls his hammer around once and catches it with a cocky grin. He's enjoying this. "Next!" Fandral calls to Volstagg and Hogun, "Well, what move, do you think?"

"I say we use the _Norn's Revenge._ " 

"At this close range? I'd think the _Alfheim Lunge_  is a better move."

"Maybe if they were three feet tall! No! How about  _The Randy Valkyrie_?"

"Shut up!" Thor takes out yet another Frost Giant, then all hell breaks loose as the Asgardians and Jotuns begin to battle. A Jotun backs Hogun up against a wall of ice. As the Giant hurls an ice blade fist at him, the grim warrior swings his mace over his head, embedding it into the ice wall, and hoists himself up, dodging the Giant's blow and leaping over him. He takes out a second approaching Frost Giant, spins back, dodges a swing from the first, then pounds the Jotun with his club. Nearby, Sif expertly stabs one Jotun after another with her double-bladed staff. One knocks her viciously to the ground. "If you don't treat me like a lady, I won't act like a lady!" She takes out the Jotun. Loki backs away from an approaching Jotun, finding himself at the edge of a deep crevasse. The Giant sees he's vulnerable, swiping at him, but the Jotun's arm passes right through him. The Giant stands there, confused when the real Loki comes out from behind a structure and shoves the Giant into the crevasse below. The false one dissipates into nothingness. "Pathetic." He turns back to the battle. Two Jotuns come at him from either side. He lets two daggers fly, felling both Giants at once. Laufey nods to one of his guards ― a massive Jotun brute. The barbarian leaps down from the balcony, icing himself up, then punches his giant fist into the ice beneath his feet. It's a long-range attack, causing pillars of ice to explode out in front of Hogun, sending the grim warrior flying back. Across the plaza, Thor easily dispatches some Jotuns.

This goes on for a while, remarks coming from the Asgardians as they fought against their enemies, Loki's arm had turned blue from where the Frost Giant touched him, but it never hurt him; he felt power surge through him when it did. 

 A hole in the sky opens up, and the Bifrost blasts down onto the inner edge of the planet. Out of the maelstrom comes the sound of thundering hooves, and, to the shock of all, tearing across the frozen wasteland comes Odin Allfather, astride his powerful, eight-legged steed Sleipnir. He's clad in battle armor, Gungnir in his hand ― an imposing sight. The Giants part in fear as he thunders into their ranks, stopping before Laufey and the Asgardians. Laufey slams his fists into the ground, and the ice beneath his feet raises him towards Odin. The Asgardians start to react, thinking it's an attack, but Laufey just stands face-to-face with Odin. Asgardian and Jotun alike look on uneasily, unsure what's about to happen, Laufey sizes up Odin, notices that as powerful as the Allfather still is, the years have taken their toll. He's not the foe he once was. The two rulers talk quietly, out of earshot of the others. "Laufey, end this."

"Your boy sought this out."

"You're right. These are the actions of a boy. Treat them as such. You and I can stop this before there's further bloodshed." Unseen by Odin and the others, Laufey starts to form an ice blade at the end of his arm. "We are beyond diplomacy now, Allfather. He'll get what he came for ― war and death." Odin looks grim, determined. "So be it." Without warning, Laufey swings his ice blade at Odin, but Odin is quicker. The Allfather brings his spear down upon the ice. Laufey and the nearest Jotuns go falling backward in a wave, the ice cracking beneath their feet, the other Frost Giants turning tail and run. Thor watches the fleeing Jotuns with delight. "Now! We'll finish them together!"

"Silence!" Odin raises his spear. The hole in the sky opens, the Bifrost energy blasting forth from it, envelops the Asgardians, yanks them off the ground and up through the hole. The vortex closes behind them as all falls silent. Laufey stares up after them contemptuously.


	10. 6. BANISHED

**(**   _heimdall's observatory, asgard_   **)**

**HEIMDALL STANDS AT THE OBSERVATORY'S CONTROLS,**  Odin pulling his sword out of the command panel and throws it to him, making the Gate Keeper back away. "Why did you bring us back?" Thor was furious at his father for not letting him complete his mission, wanting an explanation as to why he did, glaring at him with a fury. "Do you realize what you've done? What you've started?"

"I was protecting my home!"

"You cannot protect your friends. How can you hope to protect a kingdom?" He turns to the others. "Get him to the healing room! Sif, Volstagg, and Hogun hurry to help Fandral out of the room." It wasn't a good enough answer for his son, who just yells back, "There won't be a kingdom to protect if you're afraid to act!" Odin stares at him with his blue eye, a subtle glare in it, Loki standing by awkwardly and watching the commotion going on. "Whatever the cost, the world must know that the new King of Asgard will not be held in contempt." 

"That's pride and vanity that talks! Not leadership! Have you forgotten everything I've taught you? What of a warrior's patience, cunning?"

"While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us! The old ways are done. You'd stand giving speeches while Asgard falls!" Thor shouts back, his voice sounding like thunder cracked down from the sky, loud and booming. "You're a vain, greedy, cruel boy!" Odin bellows, and Thor already has something to say. "And you're an old man and a fool!"The whole world seems to stop at Thor's words. Odin falls quiet. When he speaks again, there's something terrifying beneath the calmness of his words. "A fool, yes," he nods down at him. "I was a fool to think you were ready." Loki steps forward, "Father ―"

"Hey!" Odin growls at him, stopping him in his tracks. "Thor Odinson. . . You have disobeyed the express command of your King. Through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful Realms and innocent lives to the horrors of war." The Allfather plunges Gun"gnir into Observatory's control panel. The turret turns, the Bifrost energy building along with Odin's rage, and it fires, as the Bifrost opens at the end of the platform, creating a portal behind Thor. Odin turns angrily to his son. "You are unworthy of this Realm. . ." He rips off a disk from Thor's chest plate. "Unworthy of your title. . ." He rips off the bright crimson cloak. "Unworthy of the loved ones you've betrayed. I hereby take from you your powers." Odin extends his hand towards his son, Mjolnir goes flying from Thor's grasp and into Odin's hand. "In the name of my father. . ." A finger of lightning flies out of the hammer and into Thor's chest, disintegrating the right arm of his armor and part of the chest plate. "And of his father before. . ." Another strike disintegrates the remainder of Thor's armor, including the cape and torn-away disc on the floor. "I cast you out!" 

Odin thrusts Mjolnir before him and ― with a crack of thunder ― Thor is hurled back into the open Bifrost and disappears in the vortex. Odin holds Mjolnir in his hand, stares at it bitterly. He closes his eyes, lost in contemplation, whispers something quietly, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Runes appear on the side of the hammer as if carved into its smooth surface. They linger for but a moment, then disappear. Suddenly, Odin turns and hurls the hammer into the Bifrost. 

**(** _daenerys' chambers, qarth_   **)**

"If you cross the sea with an army you bought―"

"The Seven Kingdoms are at war with one another," she and Jorah argued, the older man wanting Daenerys to stay here for a little longer until the war over in  Westeros died out, then she could go in with her dragons and a large army to fight for her rightful throne, but the young girl wanted to get it overwith; she waited for fourteen years for her throne. "Four false kings destroying the country."

"To win Westeros you need support _from_  Westeros."

"The Usurper is dead," Dany rolls down the side of one of her dragon's cages, the small creature whining as darkness covered him. "The Starks fight the Lannisters and Baratheons fight each other." She shakes her head, Jorah straightening his back. "According to your new friend who earned your trust by cutting his hand?" He fought back, raising his eyebrows at her. "The time to strike is now," she ties off the covering. "We need to find ships and an army or we'll spend the rest of our lives _rotting_  away at the edge of the world."

"Rich men do not become rich by giving more than they get. They'll give you ships and soldiers and they'll own you forever," he walks forward, using his hands as emphasis. "Moving carefully is the hard way, but it is the right way."

"And if I'd listen to that advice outside the gates of Qarth, we'd all be dead by now." When Jorah sighs, one of the dragons growls, their mother turning her head to him. "I know the opportunity before you seem like the last you'll ever have, but you must ―"

"Do  _not_  speak to me like a child," says the fourteen-year-old girl, walking past Jorah, his head following her as she moved to the other side of the room, his body following close after. "I only want ―"

_"What_ do you want?" She whips her head around, "Tell me."

"To see you on the Iron Throne," he answers.

"Why?"

"You have a good claim," he says. "A title. A birthright. But you have something more than that." He steps forward. "You may cover it up and hide it, but you have a gentle heart. You would not only be respected and feared, you would be loved." Dany looks away as she pretends to be annoyed, but she was happy; no one has told her that before, and then turns her head back to her advisor. "Someone who can rule and should rule. Centuries come and go without a person like that coming into the world. There are times when I look at you and I still can't believe you're real." Dany's turns away, a gasp leaving her lips as her eyebrows come closer, tears coming into her eyes. "So what do you have me do, as my advisor?"

"Make your own way," he remarks. "Find your own ship, you only need one. The allies we need are in Westeros, not Qarth." He shakes his head.

"And how do I get this ship?"

"I'll find it for you. A sound ship with a good captain." Dany turns to face him, "I look forward to meeting him." Jorah bows at the waist, "Khaleesi." He walks off, Dany walking back to her dragons after taking a breath out, hearing them let out small whines as they hate their confines, but they must stay there until they get out of Qarth; they don't know if there could be traitors around.

**(**   _healing room, asgard_ **)**

 Sif, Loki, and the Warriors three, battered and shell-shocked, still reeling from the day's events, sit before a roaring central fire. Hogun reaches into the flames, pulls out some fragile healing stones, and neither the fire nor the stones burn him. As he carefully places the stones over the wounds of his comrades, the stones begin to glow. He crushes them to a powder. His comrades' injuries heal up at the glowing powder's touch, Fandral winces in pain asHogun heals his gaping wound, and Volstagg looks at the skin on his arm ― healing, but still blackened from the necrotizing touch of the Frost Giant. Loki watches him, then stares at his own arm, where the Giant's touch turned his skin blue. It's undamaged, back to its normal color. "We never should have let him go," Volstagg shakes his head. **  
**

"There was no stopping him," Sif replies, knowing that Thor was prideful and somewhat egotistic. "At least he's only banished, not dead," Fandral said. "Which is what we'd all be if that guard hadn't told Odin where we'd gone." Everyone agreed, but Volstagg was the only one who questioned it. "How did the guard even know?" Loki stares at his arm in silent shock, not wanting the others to see what he was feeling; he was meant to be the God of Mischief and Lies, so he was supposed to be stone-cold. "I told him," he says.

"What?"

"I told him to go to Odin after we'd left. Though he should be flogged for taking so long."

"You told the guard?" Volstagg asks.

"I saved our lives! And Thor's. I had no idea Father would banish him for what he did." He begins picking at the cuticle of one of his fingers, taking it back just enough to keep it looking good and neat; he had an image to uphold to Asgard. Though he may be a man, he had to keep his image fresh, elegant, and smart, even if it was something as minuscule as a cuticle ― the maids could see it if they were to come near him. "Loki," Sif starts, "you're the only one who can help Thor now. You must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind!" If Loki were with his wife, she wouldn't be giving him this much shit. "And if I do, then what?" He questions her. "I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is. He's arrogant. He's reckless. He's dangerous. You saw how he was today. Is that what Asgard needs from its King?" Everyone looks at each other, torn. Loki had a point. He leaves the room, leaving them all to question who the traitor in the House of Odin was, and they began to think it was Loki; he loved Thor, yes, but he was always jealous of him.

**(** _odin's vault, asgard_   **)**

 Loki heads into the Vault, sees the Casket of Ancient Winters sitting on its stand, walking over to it slowly, reaches out, lifts it between his forearms off its pedestal. As he does, a blueness spreads from his arms, across his body. The blueness was spreading further, consuming his whole body. Until he was one of them. "Stop!" Loki hears Odin hurrying into the room. Odin eyes Loki with dismay. "Am I cursed?" The god of mischief asks.

"No," Odin denies, shaking his white head. Loki sets the Casket back on its pedestal, "What am I?" 

"You're my son," Odin responds, Loki turning around, letting the Allfather see his blue skin and red eyes, the etching of the drawings Jotuns had on their skin. The color recedes back into his collar, "What more than that?" Odin doesn't answer; he looks suddenly weary, burdened. Loki sizes him up, realizing the truth that his apparent father was hiding from him. "The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?"

The Allfather cannot hide it anymore. "No." He pauses, choosing his next words carefully as he looks ready to faint. "In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the Temple, and I found a baby. Small for a giant's offspring ― abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son." Loki is sent reeling at this information, hating the fact that he was not of Asgard, but of the Giants he was sworn to protect Asgard from; he fought against his  _real_  people. "Laufey's son. . ." he repeats softly, struggling to make sense of it. "Why? You were knee-deep in Jotun blood. Why would you take me?" 

"You were an innocent child."

"You took me for a purpose, what was it?" Odin doesn't answer. "Tell me!" 

"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about an alliance, bring about a permanent peace. . . through you." He doesn't want to believe what he's hearing. "What?" He asks softly. "But those plans no longer matter." Odin couldn't bear to see his adopted son crying, the blue eyes he took from Frigga shining with tears, not with whatever adoration he saw only when he was looking at his mother; whenever he looked at his father it was blank, and when he looked at Thor it was full of jealousy and in recent times. . . it looked like he knew he finally had something that his brother didn't. "So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me."

"Why do you twist my words?"

"You could have told me what I was from the beginning. Why didn't you?"

"You are my son," Odin counters, but it wasn't enough for Loki. "I wanted only to protect you from the truth." The Trickster did not want to be saved from the truth; he wanted to have been told many years earlier so all this pain he felt could have been overwith, so he didn't have to have the want, the  _need_ , to run into his wife's arms, crying. "Because I. . . I. . . I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?" Loki asks, hearing that Odin's words had no feeling to them, they seemed practiced, like he knew this day was going to come, stood in front of a mirror and said those very lines many times until he had it down perfectly. "It all makes sense now. Why you favored Thor all these years." Odin sits down on the staircase in pain. "Because no matter how much you came to love me,   you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the Throne of Asgard!" The Allfather's body begins to shake, lifting his hand, moving out of sync temporarily, leaving a trail, the Odinsleep coming into effect. Loki doesn't notice it as he tries to fight it off. His hand drops as he falls asleep. 

The God of Mischief gets on his knees, his hands hesitating to even touch Odin, his deft fingers resting atop the old man's hand, his thumb encasing the bottom of it, "Guards! Guards, please help!" The emotional strain of Loki's confrontation made the Odinsleep come faster than normal, and the Einherjar guards come in in their golden armor, beginning to pick their King up to bring him to his chamber. 

**(** _spice king's palace, qarth_   **)**

"He shouldn't make me wait," Dany paced the floor impatiently, her blue dress switched for a blue tunic, a gold cage-like necklace coming down below her breasts, Dothraki skirts in favor for the fine silk she wore the previous day. "The Spice King is the  _second_  wealthiest man in Qarth," Xaro replies, putting an emphasis on  _second_  to show that _he_  was the _first_ wealthiest man in Qarth, as he always did. "He makes everyone wait. Of course, you could have avoided this embarrassment if you married the _wealthiest_ man in Qarth." 

"I already _have_  a husband," she seethes, already getting annoyed by his constant pushing to marry him; it seemed like he just wanted a woman to bed forever, not someone to love and hold dearly. "Khal Loki is gone, Khaleesi," he adds weight on the word gone, making Dany's heart hurt. _It couldn't possibly be,_  she thought.  _He's a god. Gods are harder to kill than a simple pillow smothered over their heads._  "You are far too young to remain a widow forever and far too beautiful."

"You are far too smart to think that I will succumb to flattery," Dany chuckles dryly, continuing her pace.

"I have traveled very far in my life," Xaro monotoned, "and met many women, but none that are immune to flattery."  _Well,_ Dany thought,  _perhaps when someone compliments you many times and each time they do, they take your weakness and use it against you again, you'll understand._ "The Mother of Dragons!" A voice booms from the top of the grand staircase, breathing heavily as he walked down it, his fat body making it hard for him to even take a few steps without tiring himself out. "Forgive me," he bows to her. "I had terrible dreams last night, terrible dreams! I could not sleep until the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Look, what a beauty you are, now that the Red Waste has been washed off you. I am sorry for all that. . . unpleasantness. The silver hair of a true Targaryen! Xaro Xhoan Daxos, she is far too lovely for a glorified dockworker like yourself!"

"Very true!" Xaro mused, pointing up at the heavy man on the stairs. "And yet they say that your grandfather, who sold pepper off the back of a wagon, married a lady far lovelier and higher born than himself."  _As if Xaro had a chance,_ Dany fumed in her head. "Every lady alive was lovelier and higher born than my grandfather," the Spice King commented, the people behind him laughing softly while Xaro had a dry laugh, pretending to be enjoying his company. "Did my servants not offer you something to eat, to drink? I'll have them flogged in the square!"

"Thank you, my Lord, you are a gracious host," Dany stops him, stepping up to him, the tips of her boots hitting against the bottom step. "But there is no servant alive that can give me what I want."

"Ah, she has a talent for drama, this one," Xaro gives a sullen nod behind Dany's back, agreeing with the Spice King for once. "So, my little princess, what is it you want?" 

"My birthright, the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros."

"I fear I'm no better than a servant in this regard," he shakes his bald head at her, mocking the young Khaleesi. "I cannot give you what I do not have." Dany sighs deeply, "I'm not asking you fo the Kingdoms. I'm asking you for ships. I need to cross the Narrow Sea." 

"I need my ships as well," he begins to truly mock Dany as if she were a stupid girl. "I  _use_  them, you see, to bring spices from one port to another!" 

"Whatever you grant me now, will be repaid three times over when I retake the Iron Throne," Dany stated, and the man's bushy eyebrows come up in the air, ready to say something else. "Retake?" He queried. "Did you once sit on the Iron Throne?"

"My father sat there before he was murdered."

"But if you did not sit on it yourself," the King asks, "would it not be correct to say take the Iron Throne?" Dany's had enough, and she snaps, replying, "I didn't come here to argue grammar!" He shakes his head down at her like a man would to his little puppy, if he ever had one. "Of course not," he piped. "You came to take my ships. So let me explain my position, little princess." He walks down the stairs, hand running down the banister as his left held up his skirts. "Unlike you, I do not have exalted ancestors. I make my living by trade, and I judge every trade on its merits. You ask for ships, you say I shall be repaid triple, I do not doubt your honesty or your intentions, but before you repay your debts, you must seize the Seven Kingdoms! Do you have an army?"

"Not yet."

"You do not have an army. Do you have powerful allies in Westeros?"

"There are many there to support my claim."

"When were you there last?"

"I left when I was a baby." 

"So, in truth, you have no allies," he straightens up. "The people will rise to fight for their rightful queen when I return."

"Ah," he juts a fat finger at her, and Dany wants nothing more than to reach over and break it in half, perhaps even rip it off its socket. "Forgive me, little princess, but I cannot make an investment on wishes and dreams! Now, if you'll pardon me." He begins walking up the stairs.

"Do you know Illyrio Mopatis, Magister of Pentos?" This makes him turn around from his walk, "Yes, we've met. A shrewd man."

"For my wedding, he gave me three petrified dragon eggs," Dany begins telling her story when she was just thirteen years old. Now she was a girl of fourteen, her breasts were no longer as full as they were from when she was pregnant and the skin around her nipples dried, cracked, and peeled off to reveal new pink buds. "He believed, the world believed, that the ages have turned them to stone. How many centuries has it been since dragons roamed the skies? But I dreamt that if I carried those eggs into a great fire, they would hatch. When I stepped into the fire, my own people thought I was mad. But when the fire burned out, I was unhurt, the Mother of Dragons." A moment of silence passes before them, Daenerys stepping up onto the staircase, "Do you understand? I'm no ordinary women. My  _dreams_  come true."

The Spice King nods at her and steps down, "I admire your passion. But in business, I trust in logic, not passion. I'm sorry, little princess."

"I'm not your little princess. I am Daenerys Stormborn of the blood of the Old Valyria, and I will take what is mine. With fire and blood, I will take it."

"Yes, My Lady! But not with my ships!" 


	11. 07. LOST DRAGONS

**The quote about how many people in her life have been killed is from ASOIAF, but I changed Drogo's name it Loki's.**

**(**   _staircase to dany's chambers, qarth_ **)**

**"THE SPICE KING REFUSES** me because I'm a bad investment," Dany rants to Xaro as they walk through the middle of a garden that led to the staircase near her chambers, anger pulsing through her veins. "The silk king won't support me because of his  _business_  with the Lannisters ― why offend his best customer? And the copper king offers me a _single_ ship, on the condition I  _lie_ with him for a night. Does he think I would  _whore_  myself for a  _boat?"_  Xaro takes a moment to think about what to say, and of course, he had to retell the story of how he came to Qarth as a poor man. 

"When I came to this city," Dany's head turns to him, already knowing the following words, "I had nothing. Truly: nothing." They turn right to the stone stairs. "I slept by the docks, and when I could find work loading the ships, I would eat. If not, I  _dreamed_ of food. Today, I am the richest man in Qarth." Dany internally rolls her violet eyes at him; he just had to keep reminding her of how wealthy he is despite the many times she's told him no. "Do you think the path from poverty to wealth is always pure and honorable? I have done many things, Khaleesi, that a righteous man would condemn. And here I am, with no regrets." He gestures to the city and then walks over to a door, opening it to the small girl, and they are greeted with the sight of Qartheen guards lying around, dead, throats slit open as blood poured from them. The haunting blue eyes of one stared up at her, and Daenerys took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart as she looked up to where her chambers were, worrying for her children. Her feet are quick to carry her over, the sound of Xaro calling out to her was muddled, almost as if she were listening to him through cotton and a glass wall, one of her Dothraki guards running behind her to make sure she was safe; at first, he would have protected her because Khal Loki commanded it, but now he did it because he believed in her. Daenerys rushed up the stairs to her room, passing a dead guard as she placed her hand on the banister, her dragons' cages left open and empty.

"Where are they?" She panicked. Irri laid on the ground, arms spread wide open in a T formation, her legs closed as no signs of life showed from where Dany stood. The Targaryen rushed over, putting her hand on her handmaiden's body, feeling the cold feeling of death even though the bodice of the Dothraki garb was stopping her skin from touching hers. She was on her knees, her head bent over Irri's, searching any signs of life, but none were shown. She was dead. Dany picked up her head and yelled out, "Where are my dragons?" Tears stung her eyes, ready to fall as Xaro came in, a fake apologetic look on his face, and Dany noticed it. 

She kept that in her head for future references. 

It has either been a few hours or a few days since what has happened ― Dany forgot the time ― and she paced her room, looking down at the empty dragon cages. She changed into a violet version of her blue tunic with the brown skirt, and this time, instead of using intricate gold as the upper bodice, it was a simple brown leather. Jorah runs up the stairs, the soft clanging his sword made inside the sheath alerted Dany of another presence in the room, and she turned around, seeing Jorah breathing heavily. "You came back," she says with slight relief and slight stress.

"As soon as I heard," he said wearily. "Do you know anything?" Daenerys shook her head, tears stinging her eyes again as she took a few steps to him. "Irri is dead," she tells him.

"I know. She was a go―"

"She's dead," Dany says with more emotion, her words wavering slightly in the air. "She died alone, she died for me, and I couldn't protect her." Jorah nods softly, "Doreah?" 

"We can't find her," Dany walks over to the banister, taking in a broken breath, a lump in her throat growing as she thought of another one of her friends dying. Her father had been slain before she was born, and her splendid brother Rhaegar as well. Her mother had died bringing her into the world while the storm screamed outside. Gentle Ser Willem Darry, who must have loved her after a fashion, had been taken by a wasting sickness when she was very young. Khal Loki who was her sun and stars, even her unborn son. The Gods claimed them all. She was going to add Irri and quite possibly Doreah to the list if they find her dead body. . . _when_  they find her dead body. "She must be dead, too. I led my people out of the Red Waste and into the slaughterhouse." She puts her hand on the limestone.

"I should have been here," her advisor told her, taking a few steps to her.

"You went to find me a ship," she looked up at him. Jorah shakes his head, "My place is by your side. I shouldn't have left you alone with these people."

"These people?"

"They are not to be trusted," he shakes his head again. 

"And who  _is_  to be trusted?" She turns her whole body to him. "Who  _are_  my people? The Targaryens? I only knew one ― my brother ― and he would have let a thousand men rape me if it had got him the crown. The Dothraki? Most of them turned on me the day Khal Loki fell from his horse."

"Your people are in Westeros―"

"People in Westeros don't know I'm alive," she interrupts him. Jorah just raises his eyebrows at her like a father would to his small child, his head tilting a little towards her, "They will soon enough." Dany's voice wavered a little as she replied, "And then what? They'll pray for my return, they'll wave dragon banners and shout my name. It's what my brother believed and he was a fool." She walks away, her fluffy hair fluttering in the wind that passed her, Jorah stepping up behind her.

"You are not your brother. Trust me, Khaleesi."

"There it is," Daenerys crosses her pale arms over her violet clothed chest. "Trust me. And it's you I should trust, Ser Jorah? Only you? I don't need trust any longer. I don't want it and I don't have room for it." She shakes her head, not knowing that her advisor was silently walking up to her, his arm stretching out to put it on her shoulder. "You're too young to be so ―"

"And you are too familiar," she snaps back, turning her head towards him, stopping his hand in its tracks, his eyebrows raising again, but this time it's in a shocked manner. Dany looks away from him again. His head drops, "Forgive me, Khaleesi. No one could survive in this world without help. No one. Let me help you. Please. Tell me how." She looks at him again, "Find my dragons." He marches off, the Khaleesi's head turning back to face forward again, hearing Ser Jorah's footsteps down the staircase.

**(** _heimdall's observatory, asgard_ **)**

Loki emerges out of the BiFrost as Heimdall steps away from the controls, the GateKeeper glaring at the god of mischief and he notices. "What troubles you, GateKeeper?" Heimdall answers quickly but slowly, "I turned my gaze upon you in Jotunheim, but could neither see nor hear you. You were shrouded from me, like the Frost Giants who entered this Realm." 

"Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service."

" Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see." Loki sizes him up then smiles. "You have great power, Heimdall. Tell me, did Odin ever fear you?"

"No."

"And why is that?"

"Because he is my King, and I am sworn to obey him." Loki nods softly, a smile still on his lips as he asks, "Exactly. Just as you're sworn to obey me now. Yes?" A moment of silence passes between them.

"Yes."

"Good. Then you will open the Bifrost to no one until I have undone what my brother has started." He walks out of the Observatory while Heimdall watches after him.

**(**   _dany's chambers, qarth_ **)**

After Quaithe's confession about how the thief that goes against Dany is with her now, he ran all the way to her chambers, ready to protect her against anything. Daenerys runs up the stairs inside her chambers, her breath heavy and her silver hair flying behind her, Pyat Pree standing in the doorway with a haunting smile. One of her Dothraki bloodriders pushes her behind him, his crooked sword in front of him, ready to kill the man that threatened his Khaleesi. Jorah pushes a dagger into his back, the bloodied tip protruding out of the man's stomach, but he continues to smile. "A mother should be with her children," he says in a merry tone. He disappears in thin air, his robes falling to the ground while all three stare down at them. Where will you run to, Daenerys Stormborn?" He is right by the window, healthy as a horse. "Your dragons wait for you in the House of the Undying. Come see them."

Jorah pulls Dany by her arm, rushing her out of the room, away from the threat that seems to be immortal.


	12. 08. HOUSE OF THE UNDYING

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen to this as you read it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foto9Tp_yLs

**Again, the quote at the bottom is from the book, so credits to GRRM.**

**(** _unknown place, qarth_ **)**

**DANY LOOKED OUT OF THE** broken slats of wood, her violet eyes scanning for any source of Pyat, surrounded by a few trees and broken stones, "Careful, Khaleesi." She looks back at Jorah. "Xaro owns this city and the warlocks have a thousand eyes watching for you." She walks away from the wood, stepping down to the ground from the short staircase she once stood on, her feet leading her beside Jorah as they walked away. "I found one," Dany was confused. "A ship with a good captain. She leaves for Astapor tomorrow."

"Astapor?" Dany asks, stopping. 

"We cannot stay here."

"They have my dragons. A mother does not flee without her children." She shakes her head as Jorah places his hands on his hips. "They're not your children," he whispers to her. "I know they call you the Mother of Dragons and I know you love them, but you didn't grow them in your womb. They didn't suckle at your breast. They are dragons, Khaleesi. And if we stay in Qarth, we'll die"

"You should sail to Astapor," Dany retorts, "I'm sure you'll be safe there." She turns around, pausing once she got to the nearest tree. 

"You know I would die for you," Jorah responded, making Daenerys' heart stop: She didn't want anyone else to die for her. "I will never abandon you. I'm sworn to protect you, to serve." She faces him again, "Then serve me. If my dragons are in the House of the Undying, then take me there."

"That's what the warlock wants. He told you so himself. If you enter that place, you will never leave again. His magic is strong," he shakes his head at her and Dany already has another question for him. "And what of my magic?" She asks. "You saw me step into the fire. You watched the witch burn. What did the flames do to me? Do you remember?" He nods as he silently replies, "Until my last breath, I will remember. After I have forgotten my mother's face." 

Dany gives him a soft look, gloom spreading in her heart for both her and her dragons and Jorah's confession. He was older than her, much older, so it could be a few years before he forgets his mother's face, and she knew how it felt like to never be able to see it. She places a soothing hand on his stubbly cheek, her thumb rubbing against his cheekbone. "They  _are_  my children," she whispers. "And they are the only children I will ever have." She looks down before removing her hand from his face, Jorah giving her a sad look after her confession. She still believed the witch's words. "Take me to them." 

He only agrees.

**(** _palace grounds, asgard_ **)**

Loki stands with Gungnir, surveying his kingdom, when an Einherjar Guard quickly approaches him, out of breath. "My liege, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif have gone missing." Loki reacts: He knows who's responsible. **  
**

**(** _house of the undying, qarth_ **)**

Dany walked through the dark corridor of the House of the Undying, her torch lighting the way to wherever she went, her footsteps echoing off the walls. She heard the high pitched screeches of her dragons, the sound coming from the right of the stairwell, at the very top. A gold and wood door stood in her way, and it swung easily when she just put her hand on the knob, a stone pedestal in the center of the barren room. Many corridors circled the room, and she walked to the middle, where a metal gate was on the floor, a whole underneath it, but she couldn't see anything, it was too dark. She heard her dragons again, one long cry for her coming from one of the passages. 

She turned in a circle, wondering which one it came out of, and heard them again. It came from one passage to another, and she was beginning to become even more confused and worried, letting out a heavy breath. Where it came from the loudest, she walked over, another wood and gold door standing in her way again, opening as smoothly as the last. A large room was in front of her, one that was even larger than Illyrio Mopatis' house in Pentos, columns with spikes protruding from the bottom decorating the room, stained glass windows making some of the light coming in yellow, snow covering the ground. The wind howled into her ear.

She stepped down the stairs, the fire from her torch flickering, and once she reaches the center of the room she puts it down on the snow. She lifts her hand above her face as she looked up, pale blue light shining in from the broken rooftop, and she lets her hand fall to her side once her eyes got used to the light. She notices the Iron Throne standing in all its glory at the nearest end of the room, and she makes her way over, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She reaches out a hand, ready to touch the cool metal of the molten swords, her fingers uncurling from her palm, but before she could touch it, she heard her children once more, looking away for a second before turning back. She lets her hand drop: her dragons were more important to her than a throne at the moment. She walks away, walking towards the spot where the cries are louder, high pitched and clear as day. A door opens, the stone gate moving upwards to let her out into the winter day, but it isn't cold, which was weird as she read that snow was cold. Her hair whips behind her as the winds of winter picked up, the air thick with the white flurries, not letting her see far ahead, but close instead, her arm shielding her eyes from the stinging little things. Her skin and hair matched the snow, the brown leather bodice was a shade darker and the tunic was two shades darker. 

A speck in the distance catches her eye, dropping her arm as she began walking over to it. Her feet left tracks towards the door, and as she got nearer she noticed it was a Dothraki tent with a harpy statuettes holding up the entrance, the leather stirring in the wind. The cold didn't reach the inside, though, when she stepped in and saw that the tent was, in fact, her tent from Vaes Dothrak, her and Loki's belongings still in the place they last had them in, and the sunlight was pouring in in yellow streaks, not blue like the outside. A baby coughed and cooed, catching her attention again, and when she moved forward, she saw Loki with a small dark-haired baby in his arms. His green eyes look up at her when he noticed her presence,  _"Jalan atthirari anni."_   **(Moon of my life.)**

Dany doesn't reply as she walks closer, her eyes wide as she saw her husband well and perfectly fine, carrying their child in his arms. The baby had his hair and slightly darker skin while sporting her violet eyes, cooing again as he moved his arm, moving the blanket up to chew on it.  _"Jini athmovezar qoyi ven athmovezar fini fich yera anhoon — fini fich yera anhoon hatif. . ."_  she did not want to believe that he was really here. The warlock was possibly putting a spell on her.  **(This is dark magic, like the magic that took you from me. Took you from before I could even. . .)** _"Ishish anha drivak vosma anha ray nesok mae vos. Ishish anha ma yeroon she Rhaeshi Ajjalani."_   **( Maybe I am dead and I just don't know it yet. Maybe I am with you in the Night Lands.)**

_"Ma ishish anha zajje emralat Rhaeshis Ajjalani oma yeroon. Ishish anha ast Vezhofaan memé jifo hilee ma anha jad jinnaan haji ayolat yera."_ **(Or maybe I refused to enter the Night Lands without you. Maybe I told the Great Stallion to go fuck himself and came back here to wait for you.)**

She chuckled at her husband's words, standing close to him, tears stinging her eyes.  _"Jini vena tikh meyer jif ti."_ **(That sounds like something you would do.)**

He beckoned her to sit down beside him, letting her place her small hands on her son's face. This was always the way she imagined him to look like while he was still in her womb.

_"Ma ishish me atthirarido. Atthirarido che yeri che anni. . . Anha vo nesok. Jini qafe ha mahrazhea ville ma qorasoa reddi. Yer jalan atthirari anni. Haz nesak anha disse, ma anha zigerok nesat vos alikh. Ma hash jini atthirarido, hash anha vaddrivak mahrazhes fin kis vallatha anna."_ **(Or maybe it is a dream. Your dream, my dream... I do not know. These are questions for wise men with skinny arms. You are the Moon of my Life. That is all I know, and all I need to know. And if this is a dream, I will kill the man who tries to wake me.)**  She hoped that as well, their foreheads pressed against one another, his finger touching her chin softly, and she looked down at Rhaego for a moment, seeing his smile up at her softly like a baby would. Slobber shone on his small chin. She sniffed once and placed her forehead on his again, her hand taking his soft cheek in her palm. "Until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east until the rivers run dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves." Her other hand took his bare cheek in her palm as well, dragging her nails softly against the skin before letting him go, her head turning away from his, Rhaego taking her index finger into his mouth, trying to bite it with his gums. She pushes herself off the bed, her husband's eyes casting down and her baby reaching out to her. She doesn't turn back to him as she walks off. 

_If I look back, I am lost,_ she reminded herself as she opened the entrance, and instead of the snow, she's back inside the House of the Undying. Her dragons were chained to the column, crying out for her as she came closer, the black and red one flapping his winds softly. She reaches out a hand, ready to touch them, but Pyat's voice calls out to her. "They miss their mother," she whips around quickly. "They want to be with you."

"Do you want to be with them?" Another calls out behind her, spooking the young girl around, and she turns around again when the real Pyat adds, "You will be." He is walking around the edge of the room, as well as his clone. "When your dragons were born, our magic was born again. It is strongest in their presence. And theirs' strongest in yours. You will be with them. Through winter, summer, winter again. Through a thousand, thousand seasons." Cold metal is wrapped around Dany's wrist, and she lifts them up to see cuffs around them, the chains being tightened into the large circular metal rings on the wall, spreading her arms out. "And we will be with you until time comes to an end. Welcome home, Daenerys Stormborn."

"This is not my home," she replies. "My home is across the sea where my people are waiting for me."

"They will be waiting a long time." Dany tilts her head back, thinking up a plan, then looks back at her dragons, who are still chattering their teeth together. They look at her expectantly and Pyat bends at the knees to look at them with his eyebrows drawn in. Dany turns her head to him, and says,  _"Dracarys."_ When the black dragon obeys, a small smoke ring only comes out, and Pyat finds it funny, though he says and does nothing, just steps back a little. The black one tries again, successfully, and Pyat's arm sleeve catches fire, and he is quick to try to put it out, but the dragons are quicker, all three letting out balls of fire at him, but the black one was letting out one long stream, clearly better at it than his brothers. Pyat growls in pain, Dany's eyes staring him down as his screams pierce her ears, his whole body on fire as he drops to the ground, rolling and waving his arms in an attempt to put it out. 

His actions cease and tell Daenerys that he's dead, burned alive, and she looks back at her children with pride. The chains wither away, leaving ashes of them on the ground, and she tilts her head back. 

_I would name them all for those the gods have taken. The green one shall be Rhaegal, for my valiant brother who died on the green banks of the Trident. The cream-and-gold I call Viserion. Viserys was cruel and weak and frightened, yet he was my brother still. His dragon will do what he could not. And the black beast? The black is Drogon._


	13. 09. EPILOGUE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen to this as you read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgHeUTQX64

**(**   _odin's chambers, asgard_ **)**

**LAUFEY STANDS BEFORE THE SLEEPING ODIN,**  "It's said you can still see and hear what transpires around you, even in this state. I hope it's true, so that you may know your death came by the hand of Laufey." He raises his blade above Odin's body when a burst of energy hits him from behind. As the Jotun King falls to the ground, it is not Thor standing behind him, but Loki, who was holding Gungnir in his hands. "And your death came by the son of Odin." 

Laufey dies as the other two shocked Jotuns move towards him, but the trickster fires the staff again, hitting one in the chest and he flies into a wall, but the other Brute is still heading towards him. He is nearly upon him when he stops, eyes wide, then falls to the ground. Frigga was standing behind him, a sword stuck into the Frost Giant's back. She looks at Loki, then takes him into her arms, "I swear to you, mother, they will pay for what they've done today. I will end the Jotun threat, now and forever!" He looks at Odin. "And I will make you proud." Loki savors the moment, but it's shortlived as Thor bursts in. He's thrown by the scene before him -- Odin safe, Laufey and two Jotuns dead, Frigga regarding Loki with pride and respect. Stunned and delighted to see her oldest son, the mother beams. "Thor!" She moves to him and hugs him, but the god of thunder's eyes remain fixed on his brother, and the darker sibling looks down at Mjolnir in his hand. 

"Found its way back to you, did it?"

"No thanks to you," Frigga picks up on the tension between the two, but this time it was more menacing than the tension they both had as kids when one took either a weapon from Thor's hands or a book out of Loki's. "What?" 

"Why don't you tell her?" Thor asks Loki. "How you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends? To kill me?" The goddess of love looks at her adoptive son, alarmed and confused. She knew Loki could be somewhat rude, but not to this extent. "Or what about your wife? The little girl from Westeros?" Frigga looked back at Thor. "She was only thirteen when she was sold to you, and you raped her endlessly for weeks on end." Frigga's heart drops, seeing that her son wasn't the innocent little boy he used to be.

"It must have been enforcing Father's last command."

"You're a talented liar, brother. Always have been."

Loki smiles, "It's good to have you back." Then he became serious, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to destroy Jotunheim." He suddenly raises Gungnir, fires it point-blank at Thor, who goes flying backward, smashing through the chamber walls, into. . .

**(**   _odin's palace, asgard_   **)**

  Thor flies from the blast through another wall on the opposite side of the corridor, to. . .

**(**   _palace grounds, asgard_ **)**

  Thor plummets from the palace and crashes into the reflecting pools below. 

**(** _rainbow bridge, asgard_ **)**

Loki speeds on horseback down the Rainbow Bridge, then quickly dismounts and enters the Observatory. **  
**

**(**   _observatory, asgard_ **)**

Loki operates the Observatory's controls. The massive turret spins, pointing at the general direction of Jotunheim.

**(** _palace grounds, asgard_ **)**

Thor awakens to the sound of the Bifrost. He stands, sees the Observatory firing the Bifrost energy into space. He looks to where the Bifrost is aimed. "Jotunheim," he whispers.

**(**   _rainbow bridge, asgard_ **)**

Thor soars on the winds above the Rainbow Bridge, the Bifrost energy roaring through it, feeding into the Observatory. He lands before the huge doorway. **  
**

**(** _observatory, asgard_ **)**

Thor enters, shielding his eyes from the brilliant light of the Bifrost energy blasting towards Jotunheim. He looks over to the controls, seeing that they're frozen in an enormous block of ice, meaning that either the Jotuns froze it, or Loki used the Casket of Ancient Winters. The trickster stands atop it. "All these years and no one's ever dared to use it as a weapon." Thor hurries to the ice, raises his hammer to smash through it to get to the controls frozen within, but before he can, Loki fires Gungnir. The blast hits the ice in front of Thor, sending him back across the floor. Loki steps down from the ice as the thunder god staggers to his feet. " You can't stop it. The Bifrost will build until it rips Jotunheim apart."

"Why have you done this?"

"To do what Father never could. To destroy their kind forever. When he awakens, he'll see the wisdom of what I've done." That was one of the things Loki has ever wanted: pleasing his father and becoming Thor's equal. He knew he wasn't an equal to him as his hair was a lot shorter, even shorter than Volstagg's! Short hair in the Norse custom meant someone was either a slave or a lower status and seeing that he was from Jotunheim. . . Odin wouldn't want anyone to think he was his successor. 

"He won't!" Thor yelled back. "You can't kill an entire race."

"What is this newfound love for the Frost Giants? You, who would have killed them all with your bare hands."

"I've changed."

"So have I," he hits Thor across the face with Odin's spear. "Fight me." He swings Gungnir at Thor again. His brother catches it in his hand, rears back his hammer as if ready to return the blow, but instead takes to the air and flies past Loki, back towards the frozen controls. The trickster spins around, aims the spear, and fires a blast which immobilizes Thor in the air. He hangs there, suspended. "Is the throne really worth what you've done? What you would become?"

"I never wanted the throne. I only wanted to be your equal. Now fight me!" With a gesture of Gungnir, he flings Thor to the ground, who rises to his feet, turning to Loki. "I will not fight you, brother," Thor refuses. 

"I am not your brother, never was." 

"Loki, this is madness. . ."

Loki grins, "Is it?" He fires Gungnir at him. Thor dodges the blast, rolling to his feet. "What happened to you on earth that turned you so soft? Don't tell me it was a woman." Loki laughs when Thor doesn't answer, realizing that he's right. "It was. Perhaps when we're finished here I'll pay her a little visit myself."That did it. Loki and Thor rush at each other. They and their weapons collide. The two battle ― Loki unleashing years of pent-up rage and jealousy, Thor has no choice but to defend himself. Thor and Loki battle savagely. Loki fires Gungnir, sending Thor sliding across the floor and knocking Mjolnir from his hand, the hammer flies into the Bifrost towards Jotunheim. Thor raises his hand towards his hammer, tries to summon it back to him, to keep it in this Realm, but the Bifrost is too powerful. Mjolnir disappears into the maelstrom as he himself slides towards the Bifrost. "If you care so much for the Jotuns, then die with them."

The Bifrost stretches every cell of Thor's body, trying to drag him away. He's nearly swallowed by the vortex, when he concentrates, mustering his will; He reaches out his hand towards the Bifrost. Mjolnir flies back through the vortex into Thor's hand, pulling him free. Loki tries to fire off another blast at him, but Thor takes to the air, speeding towards his brother. They come crashing through the Observatory dome and land hard, rolling across the Rainbow Bridge. As Thor gets to his feet, he sees Loki dangling off the Bridge's edge. "Thor!" He calls out. "Help me! Please!"  Thor steps over to the side of the Bridge, sees Loki looking up at him desperately. "Please. . ."

Loki's fingers start to slip. Thor reaches down to grab his brother's wrist, but his hand passes through Loki's. Just then, the real Loki materializes behind him. Thor whirls around as he stabs him in the chest with Gungnir. Loki lifts Thor into the air, impaled on the spear, and hurls him across the bridge. Thor, bleeding, rises to his knees. Loki strides up behind him to finish him off when Thor swings his hammer around. It passes through him. Instantly, another Loki appears next to him, the god of thunder swings his hammer, but that too is an illusion. Loki after Loki appears, Thor futilely swinging at each one, never making contact. The blonde falls back to his knees. The Lokis grin as their raises their spears, encircling him. "I was always more clever than you."

"Yet still not clever enough," With that, Thor raises his hammer, rising into the air, summoning lightning. A massive bolt strikes Mjolnir, then channels outwards, splitting up, striking each one of the Lokis. All of them dissipate into nothingness, save one -- the real Loki -- who's sent flying back across the Bridge, Gungnir knocked from his grasp. Thor steps over to his fallen brother, lying dazed on his back. Loki winces, prepares for the worst, when Thor steps away. The trickster opens his eyes, tries to stand, but can't. He looks confused, then sees what the problem is ― Mjolnir rests atop his chest. Struggle as he may, Loki can't lift it off. He's pinned to the ground. Thor looks about him desperately ― at the Bifrost firing towards Jotunheim, gaining in strength, at the surge of energy moving through the Bridge. He's at a loss of what to do. Loki watches him smugly. "Look at you, the Mighty Thor. With all your strength, what good does it do you now?" Thor knows Loki's right. He's powerless to stop what's happening. He looks down at the Bridge beneath his feet, vibrating from the force and speed of the Bifrost energy feeding into the Observatory. Then he gets an idea. He realizes what he must do ― and what he must sacrifice. Thor extends his hand towards Loki, summoning Mjolnir. The hammer goes flying to his grasp. Loki looks confused.

Thor raises Mjolnir in the air. Clouds form above him, thunder rumbling. Lightning arcs off of his hammer, as he channels the power of the storm into it, then he strikes Mjolnir down upon the Rainbow Bridge. The blow is massive, causing a rumbling along the whole bridge, shaking the Observatory itself like an earthquake. A crack appears where the blow struck. Loki rises to his feet. "Stop! What are you doing?" Thor lifts the hammer again, brings it down harder. The crack grows bigger. The Bifrost energy starts to stream out from it. Loki thinks fast. "If you destroy the Bridge, you'll never see her again!" He grabs Gungnir, runs towards him, ready to pierce Thor through the back. "Forgive me," summoning every bit of strength he has left, Thor raises Mjolnir one last time, drawing lightning to it from all sides, and brings it down with a final, terrible blow ― The Bifrost shatters, rainbow energy exploding out of it. Both Loki and Thor are hurled into the air by the force of the blast. A wave of destruction moves forward along the Bridge towards the Observatory, breaking it apart as it goes. The Observatory rips itself apart. As Loki and Thor fall together, Thor grabs hold of one end of Gungnir, while Loki still clutches the other. They both fall towards the massive wave of Bifrost energy which spews out from the broken Bridge. They're an instant from being blasted by the destructive force of the energy, carried away by the current, pulverized by the debris when a powerful hand catches Thor's leg, and he dangles there, holding the spear as Loki hangs on the other end. He looks up to see Odin standing on the edge of the broken Bridge, awakened from the Odinsleep, restored to his full strength. He searches his father's face, looking for some kind of approval, some kind of redemption, but all he sees is disappointment and regret. Loki lets go. "No!"

But it's too late. Odin and Thor can only watch as Loki falls into the rushing torrent of Bifrost energy. It carries him away, along with the debris of the Bridge and the Observatory, disappearing out of sight. Odin pulls Thor up onto the Bridge. Drained, he falls back into his father's arms. "It is over."

**(** _xaro's chambers, qarth_ **)**

Xaro was asleep in his plush bed, his large arm thrown back as his fingers rub against the gold bedpost, and it could have been either real gold or pyrite, also known as fool's gold. Doreah was sleeping next to him, both of them naked after a night of tryst, her hand coming up to move her dark hair over her shoulder, and over them stood the few remaining Dothraki, one of them taking his crooked sword and quickly snatching the amulet from Xaro's neck, waking him up. He jumps at the sight of them, Dany coming closer with her baby dragons sitting on her arms. They're all looking at him with angry eyes, sensing that their mother was angry, beyond furious, at the man and woman she thought she could trust. Doreah perks up, holding the sheets up to her bare chest, "Khaleesi, please. He said you'd never leave Qarth alive. I ―"

"Come," was the only thing the Targaryen said before walking away, Drogon letting out an angry cry at the ex-handmaiden. When Xaro threw his bedsheet aside, Jorah immediately points his sword at him, giving him a look that told him to not try anything funny. 

**(** _xaro's strongbox, qarth_   **)**

The amulet is placed into the matching notch on the safe's door, turned clockwise and when a loud click is heard, they stop, letting them know that it was opened. They pull the door out, ready to see gold and money inside, but when Dany steps closer, it was empty, just a barren room. "Nothing," she purses her lips, then turns to face Xaro. "Thank you, Xaro Xhoan Daxos. Thank you for teaching me this lesson." She nods at two of her bloodriders, who take the prisoners by the arms and begin ushering them into the empty room. "I am King of Qarth," Xaro begins to speak as Dany steps down from the edge. "I can help you now. Truly help you. We can take the Iron Throne. I'll bring you a thousand ships."

"Please, Khaleesi," Doreah begins to plead. "I beg you."

"All that you have dreamed is within your reach!"

"I beg you, Khaleesi! Please, please, please!" Doreah's cries and screams fill the air, and Xaro continues to babble about how he can give Dany everything she's ever dreamed of. The safe is locked behind them and their pleads are cut off.

**(** _xaro's chambers, qarth_   **)**

The Dothraki are placing all of the fake gold bowls, cups, and decorations in bags, Jorah overseeing everything to make sure they didn't take any for themselves, but seeing as they were followers of Daenerys, they wouldn't dare cross the dragon mother. "It's all a lie," he says to her when she walks up beside him. They look around them, "Looks real enough to me." Dany takes a gold bowl in her hands. "Real enough to buy a ship?" She raises an eyebrow at him, and he nods.

"Aye. A small ship," he takes it in his hands. Daenerys walks away, Jorah yelling at everyone to take all the gold and jewels, to which everyone cheers, raising the things in their hands in the air. Dany walks past her followers with her dragons in hand, Drogon at her shoulder and Viserion and Rhaegal on her arms, and she nuzzles her forehead to Drogon's neck, and he rubs it to her skin in an affectionate way. She smirks and Drogon lets out a small cry at one of the Dothraki, who was used to it by now.

They were going to go towards Astapor to gain more supporters. 

 

 

 

 

 


	14. SEQUEL PREVIEW

❝  _People learn to love their chains._ ❞

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**COPYRIGHT ©** **EDXNWOOD** **2018**

_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, OR TRANSMITTED BY ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, REWRITING, HE OR OTHER ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL METHODS, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER, EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF BRIEF QUOTATIONS EMBODIED IN CRITICAL REVIEWS AND CERTAIN OTHER NONCOMMERCIAL USES PERMITTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW. I DO NOT OWN DAENERYS, THE GAME OF THRONES PLOT, BESIDES THE PLOTS THAT I MAKE UP ALONG THE WAY, AND I DO NOT OWN LOKI AND THE THOR MOVIES._

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**WARNING: THIS BOOK MIGHT FEATURE STRONG CONTENT MEANT FOR MATURE AUDIENCES.**

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**_BOOK THREE OF THE DRAGON MOTHER SERIES._ **

**_FEATURES:_ **

_GAME OF THRONES SEASON 3_

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**_SEQUEL OUT NOW!_ **


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